The Noble Brothers Of Black
by superxprettyxkitty
Summary: After a summer of Sirius and Regulus becoming closer as brothers, even like best friends Regulus starts to realise things go a bit deeper than just brotherly love. What happens when feelings come to light and are acted upon? RATED M FOR A REASON, PEOPLE.
1. Opening

This is my first Sirius x Regulus

Rated M for obvious reasons

Strict warning don't like don't read

Reviews?

Enjoy! – SXPXK

As soon as they had begun, the summer holidays were coming to an end. September the first rolled around at a snap of the fingers and Regulus was on the Hogwarts express as it pulled out of the station past all of the frantically waving families and towards the wide open countryside on its way back to the castle in Scotland.

"Mum's really done a number on you this time, Sirius" Regulus spoke softly wincing as he examined the two inch gash on the side of his brother's left cheek bone. There was a nasty purple bruise around it Regulus had no doubt he had more on his arms and legs.

"She could have done a lot worse than she did, I guess I came off lucky" Sirius replied gently touching his cheek with his fingertips.

"In her eyes you deserved it" his brother replied quickly.

"Do you think I deserved it?" Sirius asked turning to stare into Regulus' small pretty face.

There was a pause for a few moments before Regulus spoke again "No…." he bit his bottom lip. Despite his parents teaching him, no, forcing him to believe in the pureblood supremacy and the Black family traditions, Regulus didn't want to be part of it. He was the perfect well-loved son, the one that was sorted into the Slytherin house like the rest of his family, he was the one who behaved himself, who they never had any trouble with they were proud to have Regulus as their son unlike his older brother Sirius. They were only a year apart, well a year and a half to be precise but Sirius had been the blood traitor, the one who befriended half-bloods and half breeds, yes, Sirius had confided in his brother over the summer about Lupin's condition, had trusted him with the information and Regulus for his brothers sake was going to keep it to himself, that was one thing he would never do, betray his brothers trust.

"Don't look so upset, Reg" Sirius sighed reaching up and gently cupping his brothers cheek in his right hand, a gesture first done by Regulus himself one evening in the second week of the summer when their mother had thrown a heavy vase at Sirius during a heated row and it had smashed over his arm leaving him cut and bleeding. The boy's had grown close over the summer, and were acting like proper brothers they were close and they stood together despite their families different attitudes towards them.

"I hate it when you fight, why can't you all just get along" Regulus replied averting his eyes sadly.

"Because I'm the evil blood traitor nut case and you're their golden boy, the perfect little heir" Sirius chuckled making Regulus smirk, he knew it was just a playful statement but he still took it to heart.

"You're not evil, but a nut case, I think I can agree with" Regulus smiled gazing into his brothers steel grey eyes, the same eyes he saw in the mirror each morning.

Sirius grinned showing each one of his pearly white perfect teeth, another thankful trait of the black family, they were all very beautiful and they knew it.

Just then the door to the compartment slid open and James, Remus and Peter appearing laughing and grinning excitedly at him.

"You all right, Siri?" James beamed at his friend.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Sirius asked turning his attention from his little brother to his friends.

"Nothing much, Peter's managed to smuggle some stuff in his bag and we're gonna open it in a bit" James replied running a hand through his messy dark hair.

"We're gonna go find Snivellus, see if we can make him cry again, you coming?" Peter asked practically jumping up and down on the spot.

"Sure, I'm up for it" Sirius laughed.

"I'll see you in a bit" he smiled turning to his younger brother, leaning in he pressed his lips to the boy's forehead, a gesture making Regulus' heart rise in his chest.

Then moments later, the compartment door slid shut and he was gone.

They didn't see each other again until they were off the train and sitting at their house tables for the sorting ceremony.

Regulus sat staring over at the first years trying on the sorting hat, watching a few new Slytherin first years join the bottom of the table. His eyes wandered over to the Gryffindor table where his brother sat laughing quietly with his friends. It was in some ways like looking into a mirror, the same long shining dark hair, those identical steel grey eyes, the pale smooth perfect skin the Black family features that was much alike to his own. Sirius may have only been a year older, but he was more handsome than Regulus, it was seemingly the price to pay for being the perfect son.

"Oi Black, who're you staring at?" a cool voice broke his train of thought from his right.

"Oh nobody I was just daydreaming" Regulus lied shaking his head a little as he turned to stare into the pitch black eyes of Severus Snape.

Snape was in the same year as Sirius but they never got along, they had an on-going hex war but Sirius and his friends bullied Severus relentlessly, despite the fact that Severus always denied them doing so trying to pull it off as payback for a nasty hex he had put on them earlier in the day.

"Yeah well I hope you're not staring at any of those girls at the Gryffindor table" Snape replied shooting a glare in the direction of the table trying to pin point who Regulus was staring at.

"What like you eye up that Evans girl?" Regulus retorted coolly. He did like Snape and they were quite good friends but even he had to push one over on Snape at times just like everyone else did, in a way he felt sorry for the boy but he had to keep up his appearance sometimes at least.

Snape glared at him nastily for a few moments before opening his mouth to say something and closing it again.

"I don't eye up anyone" he replied with a sniff.

"Yeah, tell that to someone who believes you" Regulus rolled his eyes as Snape turned away in a mood.

After the feast the castle was noisier than ever with all of the students hurrying back to their common rooms, the Prefects shouting loudly over the heads of students and leading excitable first years to the common rooms for the very first time, twittering excitedly every time they saw a staircase move or whenever a ghost randomly popped out of nowhere.

Regulus was glad when he got himself into the Slytherin common room, he wasn't alone he was walking along with Snape, Mulciber, Avery and Rosier who were all talking amongst each other about what they had done over the summer holidays as they flopped down on the dark leather sofa's in the common room, the first years were already heading up to their dormitories.

"What's the matter, Black, you seem quiet" Avery said lounging across one of the sofa's his legs sprawled out over Snape's.

Regulus' mind was elsewhere and at first he didn't hear Avery calling him.

"Black" the boy snapped aggressively tearing Regulus' attention onto him.

"Hmm? Oh nothing I'm just tired" Regulus lied getting to his feet. "I think I'm gonna turn in" he said slowly.

"Bit early isn't it?" Avery frowned as the boys looked from one to the other in confusion.

"Yeah I didn't get much sleep last night, the family was round until late" he lied trying to avoid eye contact with the others.

"Alright, see you tomorrow then" Severus frowned.

Turning on his heels and avoiding Severus' piercing eyes, Regulus headed straight through the doors up to the dormitory. Slamming the door shut behind him he headed straight over to his trunk, kicking it open he began to undress and pull on a knee length blue nightshirt and flopped down on his back resting his hands behind his head.

His mind rolled back to the events of the summer, he remembered sitting in his room his back to the door listening to the shouts and screams coming from downstairs. His mother having a raging fit throwing things, knocking chairs over and punching lumps out of her eldest son, his father bellowing at them both and waiting to have his turn beating Sirius senseless. Sometimes the rows would rage on for several hours.

Regulus always waited, until he heard the yelling die down a bit when his mother had turned her attention on his father to continue the argument about Sirius just for the sake of arguing and the soft thud of footsteps coming up the stairs and just down the corridor into his own room, sometimes he could hear his brother crying either from anger or from pain and at the end of the first holiday week Regulus had even plucked up the courage to go and see his brother.

He remembered going down the corridor a few doors, replaying the events in his mind and pushing the door open, quietly slipping inside he saw his brother lying face down on his bed, clutching his injured arm and crying his eyes out into the pillow. It was only when Regulus walked up to the bed and climbed on curling up beside him that Sirius stopped abruptly and turned to stare at him through the darkness, a small amount of moonlight filtering through the window just enough so they could see each other.

Without any words, Regulus moved in and wrapped his arms around Sirius who silently returned the gesture and the two of them lay curled up together in silence until the next morning.

His mind wandered to the time Sirius had come home with his arms full of papers and magazines, he had gone straight into his room laughing hysterically as he tore out pages and fixed them to the walls with permanent sticking charms of Muggle girls (and boys) on Motorbikes posing half nude, Muggle bands and along the wall above his bed and along the wall above his door two enormous Gryffindor banners featuring the lion itself in bright red and gold colours.

Regulus smirked at the memory of the look on his mother's face when he saw them. Sirius had ended up with a black eye and a concussion, his mother had almost blasted his room apart trying to remove them but failing miserably. Regulus had gone in there that night and the pair of them ended up laughing about it, it was one of the things Regulus looked up to his brother for, his bravery and the way he stood up to their mother every time and pulled through with a smile on his face no matter what she did and sometimes she was downright cruel starving him, beating him unconscious, calling him every name under the sun and saying she wished she's strangled him at birth. Truly terrible things but each time she had finished with him, he had either gone straight to his room to cry it out or trash the place and wait for Regulus or he would go straight to Regulus' room and they would comfort each other through it.

He rolled onto his side and pulled the covers up over himself snuggling down into his pillow he drew the curtains around his bed as the door clicked open and voices rang through the room of his roommates coming up to bed.

"Asleep already, Regulus?" one of his roommates shouted through the curtains and he rolled his eyes.

He wasn't in the mood for them tonight and their loud obnoxious behaviour, the midnight feasting of sweets and bringing out the things they had smuggled in.

A moment or two later, his footsteps headed back across the room and a loud thumping sounded and laughter, they must have been play fighting again.

With his mind back on Sirius, Regulus drifted off to sleep comfortably that evening. He would probably end up bumping into Sirius tomorrow at some point, the one thing that put him off school was the fact he couldn't spend time with Sirius especially after they had grown so close over the summer, like good brothers, like best friends. But the kiss Sirius planted on his forehead on the train was the first one he had ever done and it felt wonderful making Regulus' heart flutter at the thought of it. What was happening to him?


	2. Feelings and Truth Or Dare

The next day dragged by and Regulus was glad to get away from his so called friends for a while after dinner. Deciding he had nothing better to do, he went up to the library with his things to write his Defence against the Dark Arts essay he had been given that morning, this year he had promised himself he was going to work harder and actually keep on top of things unlike last year when he ended up practically climbing the walls with stress.

He was in a foul mood as he marched into the library he had a run in with one of the boys in his dormitory who thought it would be absolutely hilarious in return to turn his hair a bright shade of bubblegum pink. The whole way there he had people laughing with him and had spent his free period in the afternoon trying to change it back to normal but failed miserably.

Dropping into an empty seat at the far corner of the room he pulled his things from his bag and began flipping through the pages of his homework ignoring the stares of some of the other students around him peering down the aisles of books towards him to get a better view of his hair.

One amusing thing about the day though was when Severus walked into the common room his robes had been hexed at some point during the break and he was now wearing the girls uniform and was furiously pulling his skirt down trying to cover his private parts, after sending death glares to Regulus who was sitting on one of the sofa's trying not to laugh he had stormed off into his dormitory shouting and swearing. Regulus put it with no doubts down to his brother and friends trying to pull one over on Snape as usual, sometimes Regulus wondered how they managed to catch him all the time, how they always knew where he was it was like he had a tracking device on his person and they could follow him around everywhere and hex the shit out of him.

He had been sitting staring blankly at the pages for what seemed like hours, rubbing his tired eyes he rested his head against his arms on the desk.

"You alright, Reg?" a familiar friendly voice spoke making him jump.

"Oh, hi Sirius" he smiled as his brother pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, a smile on his handsome face.

"If I'd known you liked pink so much I would have painted your bedroom for you" Sirius teased nudging him in the arm making him blush furiously and pull the hood of his robes up to cover his hair.

"I do not like pink! I just can't change it back" he whined playfully batting Sirius' arm.

"Ohh so now you need my help? You need the help of your simply amazing, intelligent, completely perfect and devilishly handsome big brother" Sirius grinned evilly.

"No!" Regulus replied pulling the hood further over his head partly to hide the blush that was appearing on the apples of his pale cheeks.

"So you want to stay pink forever?" Sirius sighed playfully his left elbow leaning on the table and his head resting in the palm of his hand as he pulled his wand from his robes and twirled it around in his fingers.

"No I do not" Regulus wrinkled his nose in annoyance.

"Then what's the magic word?" Sirius smirked in amusement.

"Just do it, Sirius" Regulus sighed dropping his hood down and revealing his startling hair.

"You didn't say the magic word" Sirius replied in a sing song voice.

"Please" Regulus said at almost a whisper.

"What was that Reg? I can't hear you" Sirius smirked even more.

Regulus let out a loud sigh "Please!" he said plenty loud enough for Sirius to hear.

"As you wish, little bro" Sirius smiled and pointed his wand to Regulus' hair, a flash of silver light and his hair had returned to its usual shade of black.

Regulus pulled a few strands down and examined them.

"Thanks" he smiled gently at his brother.

"Don't mention it, now tell me, what are you up to?" Sirius replied stuffing his wand back into his robes.

"Just trying to write my essay" Regulus replied pointing towards the book left open on the table.

"Oh Regulus, good little Regulus always doing his homework" Sirius teased pinching him on the cheek like a small child making Regulus glare at him.

"Oh come on, you know I'm only playing with you" Sirius grinned and Regulus suddenly turned a violent shade of crimson.

Sirius noticed this and raised an eyebrow at his sibling.

"What's got you so hot and bothered?" he blinked confusedly.

"Umm nothing, I'm just it's just too hot in here" Regulus lied, now as red as a brick.

"You've gone even redder, is there something on my face?" Sirius asked his fingers gently gliding over the soft skin.

Regulus shook his head and looked away with embarrassment his face was burning hot with shame.

"Hey listen, I was wondering if you fancied meeting me on Friday evening just so we can spend some time together?" Sirius asked tilting his head to one side, some of the dark strands of hair flopping in front of his eyes.

"Yeah that's be cool, time and place?" Regulus asked staring into his brother's face. What was happening to him, why was he feeling so flushed and embarrassed around his brother, they had known each other all their lives and now all of a sudden he was acting like a complete idiot around him.

"How about ten o clock down at the main entrance hall?" Sirius asked brightly.

"What about Filch? Ten is past curfew" Regulus asked warily.

"Don't worry about him, just be there on time and we won't have anything to worry about" Sirius smiled warmly.

"Okay, ten o clock at the entrance hall on Friday it is" Regulus grinned staring into his brothers dazzling grey eyes.

"Good, I'd best be off or the guys will be wondering where I am" Sirius sighed before reaching out and pulling his brother into a hug.

Regulus quickly buried his face in his brother's shoulder inhaling his scent deeply, Sirius smelled of rain water and soap. Smiling Regulus continued to breath deeply until Sirius began to pull back slowly staring him in the face.

"Try not to get into any more trouble, I don't think that pink is really your colour" Sirius teased and Regulus prodded him in the chest.

"It wasn't my fault!" he protested.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah that's what they all say" Sirius rolled his eyes and leaned in kissing Regulus on the forehead again.

Butterflies erupted into Regulus' stomach and he felt strange all over, but the sensation was wonderfull, the brief moment his brothers lips touched his skin.

"I'll see you soon" Sirius said as he got up and strolled off running his fingers through his hair as he left the room.

Regulus sat staring after him at the library door for a few minutes a smile still on his lips feeling slightly dizzy before shaking his head and turning back to his essay. Deciding that there was no point even trying to write it now he tucked his things back into his bag slung it over his shoulder and strolled off back towards the common room.

"Oi Black where you been all day?" Avery called out as the four boys were once again lounging on the sofa, the common room was quite empty just some other students towards the back reading or playing wizards chess.

"Why is it any of your business?" Regulus raised an eyebrow, even he knew he was being a bit out of character they were supposed to be his friends after all.

"What the hell's gotten into you?" Mulciber asked frowning at him. They were angry, great.

"If you must know I was in the library and I met my brother for a while" Regulus sighed and rolled his eyes.

"The Gyffindor? Geez, talk about wasting your time much" Avery commented cringing.

"He is my brother you know, wouldn't hurt to be a bit nicer" Regulus said coldly.

"He's also an arsehole" Snape replied nastily.

"To you, yes, but what do you expect really?" Regulus sniffed looking Snape up and down, he knew how to fight back at them when he wanted to and knew that Snape was smart enough to know what he meant just by dropping hints.

"What do you mean by that?" Avery frowned. Snape looked like he was about to implode and his eyes dropped to his lap for a few moments as if depicting what to say next.

They stood in an awkward and very uncomfortably silence for a few moments before Regulus spun round and marched off up into his dormitory leaving them all behind.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed he rested his head in his hands tugging at his hair. He had no right to act like that towards his friends, but in turn they had no right to speak about Sirius like that especially not right in front of him, sure Sirius wasn't perfectly innocent but he wasn't always the one to antagonise them ready for a fight. Well, maybe he did with Severus but not the others.

What was happening to him, he was becoming some dark moody little teenager hiding away in his dormitory sulking and pushing his friends away. He thought back to when he was in the library, he hadn't been acting like that with Sirius, he had been really happy to see him and grateful because of his hair and that warm feeling inside of him that rush when Sirius hugged him and the butterflies in his stomach when his brother kissed his forehead, the dizzy feeling he left afterwards….

And then it hit him like a sack full of bricks.

He was falling in love with his own brother.

Letting out a long drawn out sigh he got to his feet and headed for the dormitory door, he had to go and apologise to his friends.

As he went back down in the common room he noticed them all sitting on the rug in front of the fire laughing loudly, the other students had gone off to their dormitories in annoyance at the noise they were making.

"Look who it is, Regulus Black the pure-blood supremacist back for more" Evan Rosier said loudly.

Sighing, Regulus walked straight over to them "I'm sorry about earlier I've just been a bit off recently - studying for my N.E.W.T levels next year" he said quietly.

The others stared at him suspiciously for a few moments.

"Has something happened to you?" Avery asked raising a dark-coloured eyebrow at his friend.

"You could say that, now what are you doing?" Regulus replied and stared down at them sitting with their backs to the sofa's which had been pushed back a little way to give them more room. Mulciber had what looked to be a large white bed sheet in his hands and was getting to his feet.

"We're gonna play a game of truth or dare" Mulciber replied attaching one end of the sheet to the sofa behind him and moving across to attach it to the other making a sort of tent for them all to sit under. "Joining us?"

"Isn't this a muggles game?" Regulus wrinkled his nose crawling under the tent and sitting next to Evan.

"Ah very true my friend, but not when we have this" Avery laughed pulling two small bottles from the pocket of his robes.

"And what is 'this'?" Regulus asked gesturing towards the bottles.

"These my friend contain Veritaserum, the most powerful truth serum in the world, nicked them from Slughorn's store room the silly old bint left it open" Avery smirked proudly earning nods of approval from his friends.

"So if one of us won't tell the truth, or we think isn't telling us the truth we'll use this on him, do we all agree?" Mulciber asked the little gathering, all of them nodded happily.

"What about if we refuse a dare?" Regulus asked curiously.

"This is where it gets exciting, if one of us won't perform a dare we can either use the Imperius curse on him or he loses and has to perform a dare anyway" Mulciber grinned maliciously.

"This sounds better than I had expected, let's go for it" Regulus smiled in agreement and rubbed his hands together with anticipation.

"Alright, Evan truth or dare?" Mulciber asked resting his wand in the centre of the small group and Avery put the two bottles down beside it.

"Truth" he replied with a shrug.

"How many girls have you slept with, truthfully" he asked and they all leaned in a little way with curiosity.

"Honestly? Only two" he replied with a shrug. They all looked at one another and deemed it to be the truth so they moved on to Evan's asking.

"Snape, truth or dare?" he asked with a smirk.

"Hold on a minute guys, I think we're missing out on something here" Snape grinned nastily staring over at Evan making him visibly uncomfortable.

"What are you on about, Snape?" Avery rolled his eyes.

"You asked him how many girls he has slept with" Severus said clearly.

"And your point is?" Avery replied raising an eyebrow.

"VERITASERUM!" Mulciber called loudly grabbing one of the bottles and Evan jumped almost falling onto his side when Mulciber got to his feet.

"How many boys have you slept with as well then?" Mulciber asked with a maniacal grin.

"You can't just change the question and pounce on me!" Evan squealed making the others laugh.

"I can and I will, so tell us how many?" Mulciber chuckled grabbing Evan by his tie.

"None!" he squeaked his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"LIAR!" Snape laughed as Mulciber grabbed him by the face forcing his mouth open he poured three little drops into his mouth.

"How many boys have you slept with?" he asked again staring into Evan's eyes.

Evan was biting his lips and shaking as though trying desperately not to answer the question.

"Oi, answer me" Mulciber said impatiently yanking on the tie.

"FIVE!" Evan blurted out making Regulus and the other boys shriek with laughter.

Mulciber let go of his friend and rested the bottle back down in the middle of the group a proud smirk on his face.

"Great to see at least Snape has some brains in that greasy skull of his" Mulciber reached over and hi-fived his friend.

"Hey!" Snape snapped as Evan began to recover.

"Let's get back to where we left one then shall we?" Evan frowned angrily. "Snape, truth or dare?" he asked staring at the boy sitting opposite him his legs pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them.

"Truth" he replied slowly.

"Who was your first kiss?" he asked slowly and the others looked quite intrigued by this, even Regulus was interested to know who Snape had been snogging.

"I umm…." Snape looked away and mumbled incoherently.

"What was that?" Avery asked with a smirk.

"I said I've umm…. Never kissed anyone before" he flushed a little and surprisingly they took it very well.

"Aww ickly Sevvy poo's has never had his first kiss, isn't that sweet?" Mulciber teased in the most irritating voice he could muster. Snape glared at him viciously.

"Mate, you're seventeen, it's time you got some snogging done" Evan laughed. "And you all took the piss out of me?!"

"Shut up" Snape sighed rolling his eyes impatiently.

"Regulus, truth or dare?" Snape asked directing the attention on someone else.

"Dare" Regulus replied and the others erupted into cheers.

"Alright then, first dare, I dare you to write a love letter to Professor Slughorn from Hagrid and slip it under his office door" Snape grinned making them all laugh again.

"Oh that's a good one, Mr Snape" Regulus laughed climbing out of the tent and returning moments later with some ink, a quill and a notebook, tearing a page out he began to write in a very rough scrawl the Gamekeeper was well known for.

_Dear Professur Horace Slughorn;_

_I likes the way you cook potions by the moonlite skys,_

_I likes the way your robes billow in the warm summers breeze,_

_Your skin is as soft as the softest of soft things,_

_Your lips are pink and rosee so delicut and fragile,_

_Your eyes are as full as full moons they make me heart swell with pride like the swellin that happens between my thighs_

_Love from Rubeus Hagrid X XX_

Regulus finished writing it as badly as possible trying not to laugh as he wrote it the other three boys were roaring with laugher as he folded it quickly scribbled Slughorn's name on it and insisted Snape go with him to tuck it under the door. They ran out of the common room and returned moments later laughing hysterically.

"Did you do it?" Avery asked as they crawled back into the tent.

"Yeah, we waited a minute around the corner, we jumped up and down so it sounded like Hagrid walking past and Slughorn's door opened, he saw the letter on the floor and picked it up so we know he's got it" Regulus laughed as they took their places back on the rug.

The game continued in this fashion, Mulciber was dared to run into the seventh year dorms and flash himself to the other boys, there were some loud crashes and Mulciber came running back down the stairs and hid under the tent. A few secrets about Snape getting high down by the Quidditch stadium (which the others insisted he let them join him next time) and about Evan having made out with Lucius Malfoy the day the older boy had left.

"Alright Snape, truth or dare?" Mulciber asked with a grin.

"Dare" Severus replied quickly.

Mulciber thought for a few moments before Regulus reached over and whispered something in his ear making him grin evilly.

"Alright, kiss him" he pointed to Avery. "Lips and tongue for two whole minutes I will be timing you" Mulciber pulled a pocket watch out and held it up watching as Snape shrank back against the sofa.

"What's the matter Snape? The little stoner too scared to do a bit of kissing?" Evan pouted teasing the boy.

"NO!" Severus replied shaking slightly with nerves as he turned to stare at Avery who didn't look as frightened.

"Come on Sev, I'm waiting to kiss my Prince" Avery chuckled.

Taking a deep breath, Severus leaned in and pressed his lips to Avery's closing his eyes he was trembling with fright as the other boy began to kiss him back. Regulus' eyes widened at the sight, it was surprisingly hot.

The tent was silent for a good two minutes apart from the sound of their lips and the cheer that erupted from the other three boys as they saw Severus' tongue sliding into Avery's mouth.

"Three…. Two…. One…. TIMES UP!" Mulciber called and the two boys drew apart blushing furiously.

"So Severus, how was your first kiss?" Regulus asked raising an eyebrow.

"That can be my next truth" Severus grinned back. "Besides it's your turn now, truth or dare?" Snape asked with a smirk still a little flushed from his first kiss.

"Truth" Regulus said blankly.

"Alright, who do you have a crush on right now?" Severus asked.

Regulus' heart stopped dead in his chest. "Come again?" he asked feeling the panic starting to rise inside of him.

"I said, who do you have a crush on right now?" Severus blinked.

"Oh I don't have a crush on anyone" Regulus lied trying not to look Severus in the eye.

"Really?" Mulciber raised an eyebrow at him in surprise.

"Yeah, umm, my mother said she doesn't want me to err, get too attached to anyone at Hogwart's in case she finds someone better for me she wants to, umm, deem them worthy" he lied trying to make himself sound as convincing as possible.

"Right…. That's really messed up" Evan replied with a frown.

"That's my mother for you, it's one of her pure blood extremist things" he said, which wasn't entirely a lie.

"Do you think we need to use Veritaserum on him?" Mulciber addressed the group who seemed to ponder on it a few moments. Regulus' heart was hammering, what would happen if they found out he liked Sirius of all people, his own brother!

"Nah I think he's telling the truth" Avery replied thoughtfully and they all nodded in agreement. It seemed they all knew better than to press him about his family, they had been witness to some of the howlers she sent to Sirius shrieking and swearing at him in front of the entire great hall calling him for everything which didn't give them the best impression of his mother, even the teachers were shocked at some of the things she said to Sirius.

Regulus let out a mental breath and they continued.

The game didn't end until just gone midnight when Avery was wearing a face full of makeup, Evan had hexed his eyebrow into one thick mono-brow and was dared to walk around like it for an entire week, Mulciber was wearing a bra on top of his clothes, Regulus had been forced to admit his family was inbred (even though they knew it anyway he just never admitted to it) and Severus was sitting in his fading grey underpants.

By that time they were all too tired and too lazy to continue playing and had packed up their things and skulked off back to their dormitories.

Yawning, Regulus changed into his nightshirt and slipped under the covers. His roommates had fallen asleep long ago as he stretched out under his bed covers and yanked the curtains closed around him. He had only just now had the chance to think about his realisation, he fancied his brother Sirius. Maybe it was just a silly phase or something but something in his heart was telling him otherwise, something was pulling at his strings telling him he was in so much deeper than that. Smiling to himself at the memory of Sirius' arms around him, the sweet scent of his brother burning his throat he drifted off to sleep looking forward to the coming weekend….


	3. Star Gazing

The rest of the week passed by quickly and before he knew it, it was Friday morning. Sitting down at the breakfast table next to Mulciber, Regulus yawned and began to nibble on some toast.

Regulus couldn't help but look up towards the teachers table where Hagrid was sitting on the very end, Slughorn several seats away looking incredibly uncomfortable. Regulus nudged his friends and pointed over to the high table as Hagrid grinned and waved in a friendly manner like he usually would to Slughorn who grimaced and feebly waved back a look of horror on his face. They burst out laughing, Slughorn had been acting shifty all week even when he was about to walk out of the dungeons he saw Hagrid talking to Professor McGonagall in the entrance hall and had walked straight back down waiting until the half giant had gone before coming out.

The owls flew in with the morning post, a letter and a small package dropped down onto Regulus' plate and he picked it up. Glancing up he saw the owl turn around and fly over to the Gryffindor table dropping a bright scarlet envelope in front of Sirius who picked it up looking a bit worried.

"Looks like your brother's got himself another howler" Evan nudged Regulus in the side and the little group started peering over to the table as Sirius opened the back of the envelope, all of his friends seemed to edge away slightly as the booming voice of Mrs Black filled the air catching the attention of the entire hall.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" his mother's voice shrieked. "Never in all my life have I met such a foul, untrustworthy, vicious, disrespectful bastard" she shouted as the rest of the hall turned their heads to stare at him.

Sirius folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes.

"If you thought for one second you would get away with putting that Cornish pixie in my drawer you must have been mistaken! When I get my hands on you I'll ring your neck, set you on fire and strangle you to death like I should have done at birth!" she screamed, a few gasps erupted as Sirius chuckled shaking his head. Even the teachers looked stunned that anyone could speak to their son like that.

"You are a worthless excuse of a son, you're not worth the air you waste and I am going to beat you black and blue, wait until your father hears about this and we'll be fighting over who gets the first round with the cane!" she boomed. "And just you wait, your father is working on stripping those disgusting muggle and mudblood pictures from your bedroom walls, how dare you befoul the house of Black with such disturbing people!" she shrieked.

"You're a fucking bastard, Sirius Black! A nasty little swing, you and your filthy half-blood friends!" she bellowed.

"I wish I had never had had you, why can't you be more like your brother? At least he came out right!" she shrieked finally before the envelope burst into flames and burned to ash floating down onto the table.

There was a very awkward silence before Sirius burst into fits of laughter, tears were even present in his eyes as his little group of friends pretended to join in and the noise in the great hall gradually resumed itself. Sirius receiving a howler was a fairly normal thing, although this early in the school year wasn't that common unless he had done something really bad and by that he only had to breathe to upset his mother.

After the noise had picked up enough, Sirius stopped laughing and looked over to Regulus winking at him and Regulus smiled brightly in return.

Feeling slightly awkward, Regulus tucked his letter and package into his pocket, excused himself from his friends and scurried off towards the common room.

Quickly he made his way up to the dormitory sitting on his bed he opened his letter.

_Dear Regulus; _

_I hope you're doing well and you're not having any trouble with your new classes. I've enclosed some money and a little present in the package I hope you enjoy them. Remember, your father and I miss you so much and we're looking forward to seeing you soon. Good luck with your work!_

_All my love, mum x_

Folding the letter up, he tucked it into his bedside drawer and fumbled with the tightly wrapped brown paper around his package. Ten galleons dropped onto the pillow and he pulled out a small box. Lifting off the lid he saw what looked like a crystal necklace on a platinum chain. His eyebrows rose in surprise as he picked it up and slipped it around his neck. Staring at the crystal he watched as it glowed brightly.

Frowning he looked down at the packaging where a small piece of parchment was.

_Crystal of protection: Amethyst. _

_This stone will protect the wearer from self-doubt, negative energies rebounding onto its wearer and witchcraft. It also combats insomnia, protects one from drunkenness, can relieve headaches and minor illness, and protects one from poisons._

Regulus smiled to himself and stared down to the easily pure crystal hanging from his neck, the deep violet filtering into lighter shades and some clear areas making it dazzle it was practically glowing. It must have cost a lot of money especially seeing as the chain was made from platinum.

Tucking it under his robes, Regulus stuffed the wrappings in the bin, grabbed his bag and rushed off to class.

"Regulus" Snape called as he and the other three rushed down the dungeon corridor towards him as he came out the common room.

"What's happened?" Regulus blinked.

"Nothing, listen, we're going down the Quidditch stadium on Saturday night, do you fancy coming with us?" Severus asked as they stopped right in front of him.

"What for?" Regulus raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "It'll be too dark to play" he added.

"No not that! Sev's gonna show us how to…. You know" Avery stared hard at him for a few moments not fully understanding the point of their conversation.

"I don't know that's why I'm asking" Regulus said blankly.

Checking to see nobody was looking Severus leaned forward a little way and spoke in a hushed tone "Get high".

"Ohh I see, didn't think you guys were serious when you said you actually wanted to try it with him" Regulus said in surprise.

"Of course we were, so can we count you in?" Mulciber asked quickly.

"Uhh alright" Regulus smiled weakly, he wasn't over keen on the idea but he would go along and watch perhaps just to see what would happen, besides they would probably need someone to watch out for them cause if they got caught they would lose a lot of house points and end up in detention for the rest of the year.

"Great, looking forward to it" Avery smirked slinging an arm around Severus' shoulders before the four of them walked into the common room leaving Regulus to head to class.

By the end of the day, Regulus was feeling more and more excited, he couldn't even concentrate in potions that afternoon. The only thing on his mind that he could actually concentrate on was Sirius…. Sirius, Sirius, Sirius.

He wondered just what his brother had planned for tonight, where they were going if they had to meet at the entrance hall. Regulus was just more concerned about seeing his brother and getting to spend time with him that he really didn't mind what they did or where they went as long as they weren't caught by Filch because he did not fancy spending all of his time in detention.

At dinner Regulus couldn't help but continually glance up at the Gryffindor table to where Sirius was sitting with his friends, he had that Lupin in a playful headlock and they were all laughing hysterically.

He didn't notice at first when someone had thrown a plateful of food intending to hit Severus when it went all over Regulus' robes. His eyes dropped and his jaw shortly followed.

"What the hell?" he shouted glaring up at a group of sixth year boys who were grinning amongst themselves.

"Weren't meant to hit you mate, sorry" the red haired boy called still smirking.

"Fuck you" Regulus snapped trying to pick the food from his clothes.

Glancing up he saw that Sirius was staring at him a look of confusion on his face.

"What did you say to me, Black?" he snarled slamming his fist down on the table. Regulus knew he was in trouble and ignored the boy.

"Oi I'm talking to you, what did you say to me?" he snapped slowly getting to his feet and marching around the table down towards Regulus.

Jumping to his feet, Sirius rushed over to the Slytherin table just as the red headed boy grabbed Regulus by the front of his shirt, fist raised ready to punch his lights out.

"Get your hands off him" Sirius said loudly marching towards them flipping his hair out of his eyes as he did so attracting the attention of a few of the girls.

"It's alright, Sirius" Regulus said slowly as the boy turned to glare at Sirius, his hand tightening on the front of Regulus' shirt.

"And who the hell do you think you are?" he boy snarled.

"I'm Sirius, Reg's brother now I suggest you back the fuck off of him before I put your face through the wall" Sirius said bravely, his eyes flashing dangerously. He was about an inch taller than the boy, and was easily more intimidating when he wanted to be.

"What are you gonna do about it, eh?" the red head retorted angrily.

Sirius chuckled to himself glaring viciously at the boy before taking a step closer and saying in a low voice "If you don't get your filthy hands off my brother I'll break every single one of your little fingers and ram your head into one of the over flowing urinals on the second floor before hexing you a nice pair of breasts"

The boy seemed to think for a few moments before slowly releasing Regulus' shirt and sending him a filthy look pushing past Sirius and taking his seat with his friends again.

Nobody messed with Sirius Black, never, he was one of those students that could walk around and get praise from anyone, even some of the Slytherin's secretly admired him but they weren't about to admit it anytime soon.

"You alright?" Sirius asked his voice turning gentle again as he smiled down at his younger brother.

Regulus nodded with a smile and continued to try and brush the food from his robes feeling horribly embarrassed.

"Good, if he gives you any more trouble let me know" Sirius smiled again that warm feeling returning and flooding through Regulus' body. "Anyway, I'll see you tonight, ten o clock in the entrance hall" he smiled leaning down a little way and lowering his voice so nobody else heard.

"Yes, I'll see you then" Regulus grinned as Sirius ruffled his hair a little.

"See you later" Sirius winked before turning and strolling back over to the Gryffindor table, shooting a warning glare over to the red haired boy as he passed and dropped back down with his own friends resuming with their conversation.

After dinner, Regulus hurried up into the dormitory shower scrubbing himself furiously using stupid amounts of shower gel. Rinsing off his thick, shoulder length black hair he wrapped a towel around his waist and got out of the shower.

Heading back into the dormitory he quickly pulled on some underwear and a pair of dark skin tight jeans with a black t-shirt. Stretching he thought for a few moments, no doubt he would get cold wherever they went so he grabbed a zip up navy hoody and ran a comb through his hair. It was beginning to dry in its usual waves as he tucked his necklace down under his t-shirt.

Regulus went and sat by the fire in the common room waiting impatiently for ten o clock to arrive.

The others had come sauntering in about half eight laughing and fighting as usual. Severus had dropped into the seat next to him with a book, clearly trying to avoid the other three irritating boys walloping each other across the back and trying to tackle each other over onto the floor.

Regulus frowned slightly as he watched Severus look up from the book he was so 'intently' reading every so often to stare at or smile at Avery who kept winking at him and grinning back.

"Soooo, mind telling me what's going on then?" he asked smirking as Severus' eyes instantly dropped to his book pretending he hadn't done anything.

"What does it look like? I'm reading" the boy replied gruffly. Reading, always reading, Severus nearly always had his obscenely large nose buried in some kind of book.

"Come on Severus, don't try playing games with me" Regulus rolled his eyes at his friend.

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about…." Snape replied his eyes fixed and unmoving on the pages of his book.

"To start off with" Regulus grinned snatching the book from the boy's hands. "You're only pretending to read, and secondly, you're staring at Avery and have been for the past half hour" he grinned as a light blush appeared on Severus' face.

"Yes I was reading, I always read you know this, Regulus" Snape said quickly making a grab for his book.

"You're not getting this back until you tell me the truth" Regulus grinned stuffing the book up his t-shirt and wrapping his arms tightly around himself so Snape couldn't yank it back out.

"I am not playing games with you!" Snape snapped trying to pull his arms open for get hold of the book.

"Just tell me why you keep staring at Avery and you can have the book back, if it's nothing then you would just tell me instead of over reacting" Regulus said calmly watching the mixture of expression's on Severus' face.

"I've already told you it's nothing!" he snapped wrinkling his nose with annoyance.

"Is there something going on between you two?" Regulus raised an eyebrow mischievously.

Severus' blushed furiously and looked away "No…"

"AHA!" Regulus announced catching the attention of some of the others in the room. He was always right when it came to things like this, he had a way of making people talk and usually getting information out of Snape was like trying to get the latest weather forecast from a brick.

"Shut up!" Snape hissed trying to pull Regulus' arms apart again.

"Are you a couple or what? How long has this been going on, since the other day or what?" Regulus asked eagerly, he had been witness to the two of them having a two minute dared snog the other evening.

"I've had a bit of a thing for him since second year and it turns out he felt the same way for me but we've only just started something now" Severus rolled his eyes angrily. He hated discussing his personal life with people, although he didn't mind so much with Regulus because he knew he could trust him.

"Seriously? Well then, I guess you can have your book back" Regulus smirked pulling the book out from under his top and handing it back to Severus who glared at him and snatched it back opening it back to a random page resuming pretending to read. His eyes didn't move.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Regulus watched as Severus continued to glance up at Avery and blushed burying his face in his book when Mulciber pulled him into a headlock forcing him to bend over.

"So have you two done it yet?" Regulus asked curiously.

"Excuse me?" Severus' eyes widened.

"You know, had sex? Come on Severus, you can tell me I'm not going to go around gossiping it to people" he smiled.

"No we haven't now but out" Severus snapped.

With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Regulus looked up at the clock and grinned. Jumping to his feet he made to walk away.

"Where are you off to?" Snape asked.

"I have a detention with Filch this evening" he lied. It was about nine fifty and he wanted to make sure he was on time for Sirius, the earlier the better in Regulus' opinion just as long as he didn't get caught.

"What for, may I ask?" the boy blinked.

"I tried to umm kick his cat" Regulus lied again.

"Right…. See you later" Severus waved him off burying his face back into his book once again.

Regulus walked straight past the other three currently wrestling each other on the floor behind the sofa swearing and threatening to hex each other into next week as Regulus headed out of the common room and into the cold corridor of the dungeon.

He set off at nearly a run, skidding to a halt near Slughorn's office he crept past so as not to alert the head of Slytherin to his presence because no doubt he would be escorted back to the common room and not get to meet Sirius.

Hurrying up the steps he walked into the main entrance. It was empty and the torches were burning softly the only sound being from their crackling and Regulus' footsteps as he walked further into the room willing not to be caught by someone when a hand clapped over his mouth and yanked him behind the statue to his right.

Regulus struggled and tried to free himself until a familiar soft voice spoke and pushed him against the wall.

"It's me you dick, calm down" Sirius laughed quietly at Regulus' shocked expression.

"Sirius? What the fuck, you scared me!" he breathed.

"Oh lighten up Reg" his brother laughed. "Hey listen, how about we go out into the grounds for a while it'll be safer than hanging about in here" Sirius suggested tilting his head to one side some of his fine long hair flopping in his face again making him look even more attractive than usual.

Regulus nodded his response, unable to say anything as the two of them snuck out from behind the statue, through the doors closing them quietly behind them and hurrying off through the courtyard towards the covered bridge.

"How did you get away from your friends?" Regulus asked as they jogged through the courtyard towards the bridge.

"Told them I had detention with Filch" Sirius laughed as they set off at a run along the wooden bridge and out into the grounds. Regulus was having a hard time keeping up with his brother who was running towards one of the high banks.

"Me too, said I kicked his cat" Regulus replied slowing to a stop as Sirius stood panting on the long grassy bank staring out over the school and it's ground, stretching it's views right across the lake.

"Oh Reg you do make me laugh" Sirius chuckled dropping to the ground sitting with his long legs sprawled out in front of him clothes in baggy dark jeans and a navy t-shirt with a long sleeved black shirt folded up to his elbows over the top. Regulus stared at him his mouth open slightly. The moonlight was gently caressing Sirius' handsome features, his long eyelashes casting shadow's against his perfectly shaped cheek bones.

"Well, are you just gonna stand there all night?" Sirius chuckled shaking his head at his younger brother.

Regulus silently thanked the darkness for hiding his blush as he sank down next to Sirius and gazed out across the view of the school grounds, it was amazing he had never seen anything like it before everything looked so different at night time, the half-moon shining brightly in the sky sending its stunning silver rays down to caress the Hogwarts grounds.

"It's a beautiful view" Regulus commented quietly although he was mostly talking about Sirius.

"Isn't it just, I love coming up here sometimes at night to sit and think" Sirius lay back up the sloping bank his hands resting behind his head gazing up at the twinkling stars in the sky.

Regulus followed suit and lay back after him smiling up at the sky.

"Alone?" he asked quickly.

"Yeah mostly, sometimes Remus comes with me, he's been made prefect you know" Sirius sighed staring to his left at Regulus lying right beside him.

"Yeah…. I figured" Regulus grumbled a pang of jealousy running through him. Sirius was always with James, Remus and Peter he spent more time with them at school than he did with Regulus and it made the boy angry and jealous at the thought of it.

"You alright, you sound kinda angry" Sirius frowned.

"Yeah I'm fine, you?" Regulus said quickly.

"Yeah not so bad, so tell me, what's been going on with you and your little Slytherin pals?" Sirius asked smiling at his brother.

"Nothing too exciting really, they had me play truth or dare with them the other night and stuff" Regulus shrugged staring into Sirius' eyes.

"Do tell" he grinned showing every one of his pearly white teeth.

"Well Avery robbed Veritaserum from Slughorn for the secrets and stuff but don't tell anyone cause he's still got some and he'd get in so much trouble if you told" Regulus said quickly.

"Don't worry" Sirius laughed. "I'm not gonna go telling on Avery I don't have any issue with him"

"Good" Regulus sighed still staring at Sirius.

"So come on then, tell me what truths you uncovered about each other" Sirius grinned.

"Well Mulciber asked Evan how many girls he had slept with and he said two" Regulus began. "Then Severus pointed out we had only asked about girls so Mulciber forced him to take the serum and turns out he's slept with five guys as well" Regulus smirked at Sirius' laughter.

"Doesn't surprise me to be honest" he chuckled shaking his head.

"Oh and we dared Mulciber to flash himself off to the older students in their dorm" Regulus laughed. "We found out Severus had never kissed anyone so we then dared him to kiss Avery for two minutes straight, lips and tongue" Regulus grinned.

"Are you serious?" Sirius roared with laughter. "Who would want to willingly kiss Snivellus?"

"Oi he's my friend lay off him a bit" Regulus thumped Sirius in the ribs playfully.

"Sorry but he's a freak, eww given me a really bad mental image right now" Sirius stuck his tongue out and pretended to gag. "So come on then Reg, what did you have to do?"

"Write a love letter from Hagrid to Slughorn" he began as Sirius burst out laughing again. "They asked me how many people I slept with and if I had a crush on anyone…." Regulus trailed off wishing he hadn't said anything.

"How many people have you slept with?" Sirius asked excitedly, his steely eyes shining in the moonlight and Regulus shuffled a little closer. "Come on Reg, I'm your brother you can trust me" he added with a small pout.

"Promise you won't laugh!" the boy said nervously.

"I promise you, Regulus Black, I will not laugh" Sirius rested his hand dramatically on his heart.

"None, I'm a virgin" he said shyly looking away and blushing slightly. To his surprise Sirius didn't laugh only let out a long 'aww' and pulled him into a hug. Regulus' breath caught in his throat as his brother pressed up against him so warm and soft and, oh god that smell.

"Want to know a secret?" Sirius whispered into Regulus' ear sending shivers down his spine and he nodded.

"I'm a virgin too" he said quietly. Regulus' eyes widened in surprise.

"Serious?" he gasped.

"Sirius, Reg, we've known each other all our lives my name is Sirius not serious" he joked making Regulus roll his eyes.

"Not that you tosser, I mean are you being serious?" he asked again.

"Of course I am, why would I lie to you?" Sirius frowned.

"You wouldn't it's just its a little surprising, I thought you had loads of girlfriends" Regulus replied feeling a little embarrassed with himself.

"Do I really have that much of a bad reputation? I haven't done anything past a few little kisses, I've never actually had a girlfriend" Sirius smiled warmly. "And don't say 'serious' again" he added quickly as Regulus opened his mouth to speak.

"So come on Reg, anything else you feel you should tell me about?" Sirius asked his arms still wrapped around his brother as they lay in the grass together.

"Umm well Severus has been getting stoned" Regulus replied with a frown struggling to concentrate properly with Sirius so close.

"I always knew there was something suspicious about him, he came to potions one afternoon and he looked blitzed, even fell over a table" Sirius rolled his eyes. "Slughorn thought he was seriously ill and sent him to the hospital wing, although I don't think he went to Madame Pomfrey, just back to the common room or something"

"He never told me about that, just that he gets stoned down by the Quidditch stadium, he's going down tomorrow night with the others he's gonna show them how it's done and they want me to go with them-"

"NO!" Sirius said firmly.

"I wasn't going to take any, just go with them and watch" Regulus squeaked slightly frightened now.

"You're not going with them, I know what they're like you'll end up high or hurt" Sirius said quickly an expression of concern on his face.

"I won't, but if you really don't want me to go I'll make some excuse" Regulus sighed.

"Good, I'm just trying to protect you I hope you realise that" Sirius smiled squeezing him tighter.

"Yeah" Regulus smiled.

They lay in silence for a while staring up at the sky, Sirius moved position and his face bumped against the side of Regulus' shoulder. He frowned staring at him.

"What was that?" he asked confusedly propping himself up and staring into Regulus' face.

"What are you on about?" the boy asked.

"On the top inside of your shoulder, I put my face on something hard and it hurt" Sirius replied reaching down and feeling around the inside of Regulus' shirt making a hot blush fire up into his cheeks.

"Sirius-"

"Aha!" he boy said triumphantly pulling the little Amethyst necklace into view hanging on its expensive chain around his neck. Sirius examined it taken aback.

"What the hell?" he asked as the pretty violet stone glittered brightly in the moonlight. "Why are you wearing this?"

"It was from mum" Regulus cringed at the look on Sirius' face.

"Oh right, makes sense" Sirius replied.

"Look I know she doesn't send you things and it makes you feel awkward but I'm sure deep down she still loves you" Regulus said quickly.

"That old bitch wouldn't know what love was if it came up to her and punched her in her face, and she does send me things actually" Sirius replied with a grin.

"Like what?" Regulus blinked.

"Howlers" and they both burst into fits of laughter.

Eventually they calmed down and Regulus sat up, undoing the chain from the back (although it was long enough to slip over his head) he held it out in front of Sirius.

"She might have sent it to me, but I want you to have it" he smiled gently.

"I don't want anything of _hers_" Sirius spat.

"It's not from her, it's from me, I want you to have it and wear it they're supposed to bring protection and good health to their wearers even protecting them from insomnia and giving them good dreams" Regulus smiled reaching forward slightly and attaching the necklace around the back of Sirius' neck.

They were incredibly close now and Regulus finished closing the clasp of the necklace his hands gently came to rest on his brother's shoulders. His heart was fluttering madly in his chest as he gazed into Sirius' eyes a blush appearing on his cheeks as the two of them sat kneeling in front of each other inches apart staring into each other's eyes.

"Thank you…." Sirius breathed, a smile spread across his face, not one of his usual silly grins or flashes of tooth it was a warm smile, a proper smile he rarely used that made him all the more beautiful.

"Don't mention it" Regulus said softly as Sirius' right hand moved up to cup his cheek gently.

"I do love you, Regulus" Sirius smiled, it was one of the first times he had sincerely called Regulus by his proper name and it felt good.

"I love you too, Sirius" Regulus breathed, it was the truth he did love Sirius. As a friend, a brother and a lover.

Sirius leaned up and pressed his lips tenderly to Regulus' forehead. They felt wonderful against his skin, so soft and tender and loving leaving a tingle behind as he pulled back a little way.

A ray of light shot over head briefly catching their attention.

"A shooting star" Regulus whispered as Sirius kissed him on the cheek, he in turn twisted his mouth a little and kissed Sirius' right cheek at the same time.

"Make a wish" Sirius breathed and Regulus closed his eyes. A moment or so passed and he could feel Sirius' warm breath against his lips. Regulus swallowed nervously.

"Have you made your wish?" Sirius asked as Regulus cracked his eyes open so they were half lidded. He gazed into Sirius' swirling half lidded eyes and nodded ever so slightly, his lips were parted slightly and he could still feel Sirius breathing against him it was making him almost shudder with delight.

"Good" Sirius whispered his thumb gently brushing across Regulus' rosy bottom lip.

"Because this is mine…." Sirius breathed before closing the gap between them, their lips pressed together in the most tender yet passionate of kisses.

Regulus thought he had died and gone to heaven as fireworks were exploding in front of his eyes. He moaned as Sirius deepened the kiss the sound of their lips touching repeatedly filled his ears, Sirius was taking over all of his senses.

He moaned as Sirius' tongue traced his lower lip begging for entrance, with a soft gasp he was in exploring his brother's mouth with his warm moist tongue. Regulus moaned as Sirius' left hand moved down to his hip and his right slipped around to the back of his neck pulling him in closer deepening their kiss further.

Their tongues soon began trapped in a battle for dominance, both boys groaning with excitement, their hands moving around feeling across each other's bodies.

When they finally broke apart panting for breath they gazed into each other's eyes, both flushed with excitement and desperate for more.

"That was…. Simply amazing" Regulus panted smiling broadly.

Sirius grinned "I've never felt anything like that before"

"Me neither, I've never felt what it's like to kiss before, you are my first" Regulus flushed and buried his face in his hands with shame.

"It's alright, Reg" Sirius smiled reaching out and pulling his hands away so he could see the boy's face.

Regulus flushed a deeper shade of red and smiled up into Sirius' sparkling eyes.

"So where does this leave us?" he asked with a smile.

"Us?" Regulus asked feeling slightly dazed.

"Yeah, us, do you want to be together?" Sirius asked flushing.

"Like a couple?" Regulus smiled hopefully.

"Yes of course like a couple" Sirius replied with a chuckle.

"I'd love to but in case you haven't noticed, we're brothers?" Regulus raised an eye brow, perhaps Sirius had gone a little bit mad.

"I know that! But we can use it to our advantage, you see we can embrace each other in public without arousing suspicion and nobody need know, our family is close enough as it is they'll just think it's normal for us" Sirius grinned making Regulus laugh.

"You're right I guess, incest is the norm in our family" he replied with a playful smile.

"Good, come on we'd better get back inside it's getting late and we don't wanna get caught by Filch" Sirius said getting to his feet and offering a hand to Regulus who took it and was helped straight to his feet.

They walked in silence with their arms around each other back towards the castle. Sneaking into the entrance hall Sirius leaned forward and pulled Regulus into a passionate kiss that lasted several minutes before they broke apart.

"Meet me outside the library tomorrow night at eight" Sirius smiled warmly making Regulus' heart flutter in his chest.

"Alright I'll see you then, boyfriend" Regulus flushed smiling into his brother's face.

"Yes I'll see you soon, boyfriend" Sirius grinned. "Love you" he smiled.

"Love you too" Regulus replied as Sirius leaned down and pecked him on the lips before they hurried off in the direction of their dormitories.

Regulus felt dizzy and complete, so warm with happiness as he walked back into the common room. The sight before him almost made him fall down the few steps by the door.

On the sofa lay Avery sprawled on top of Severus, his hips between the smaller boy's legs and their lips crushed together in passionate kisses. He started blinking at them his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

"Ahem" Regulus said pretending to cough and the two of them leapt apart blushing madly.

"Wasn't exactly what I expected to see tonight" Regulus blinked feeling slightly surprised.

"We were just…. Umm…." Severus stammered.

"Don't worry I don't mind" Regulus sighed as he walked past them and up the stairs towards the dormitory. The minute he had gone they instantly leapt into each other resuming their tongue session.

That night Regulus lay awake, his curtains drawn around his bed smiling up at the top of his four poster. He had spent the evening with Sirius, gazing at the stars and even shared a kiss with him. Sirius liked him back, actually liked him back.

He couldn't wait to see what his brother had in store for them tomorrow evening….


	4. The Room Of Requirement

The next afternoon Regulus spent trying to keep out of the way of his friends who were eagerly anticipating going down to the Quidditch stadium with Severus. He had his breakfast as usual knowing they wouldn't bring it up in conversation with so many potential eaves droppers around and Regulus had gone straight up to hide in his dormitory waiting for the other boys to go off to Hogsmeade so he could come out for a while.

Stuffing his Divination homework into his school bag, Regulus rolled onto his side gazing around the dormitory. His mind was wandering back to the events of the previous night and he was finding whatever he did difficult to concentrate on without thinking of Sirius. That morning at breakfast he couldn't help himself but steal glances at the fifth year who kept smiling and winking over at him.

Deciding it was time for a walk, Regulus got to his feet he pulled on his shoes and headed straight out of the door down into the common room he walked right past the other students either talking, reading or doing homework. There wasn't many of them there anyway being as they all went off to the village, but Regulus quite frankly couldn't be bothered to charge around after his friends who would be badgering him about tonight.

Leaving the common room, Regulus set off down the dungeon corridor and headed off up the stairs towards the library for a little while. It was one of the best places he found to just sit and think, that and the Astronomy tower which he didn't very often get to go to due to lessons or the fear of being caught prowling around the castle late at night and risking being in serious trouble for going up there in the first place.

Turning as he walked along the corridor he pushed open the door to the boys toilet. Empty, thank god. Last time he had used this toilet had been with his friends, they had all stood facing the urinals when of course a playful fight had broken out and ended up with both himself and Severus getting pee all over their clothes thanks to Evan and Mulciber trying to elbow each other whilst urinating thinking it was funny. Regulus sighed with annoyance as he unzipped his trousers and began to take care of business.

Fixing his trousers, he flushed the toilet and turned around ready to leave when the door swung open and the red headed boy whom Regulus had trouble with the previous evening came sauntering in with his three beefy friends. One with short dark brown hair and dark beady eyes like an insect, his neck was as thick as Regulus' waist and his name was Antonin Dolohov, known troublemaker, the other two being blondes and equally as large and intimidating.

They stopped laughing abruptly when they saw Regulus standing with his back to the urinal just a few feet away.

"Well, well, well guys look who it is" a nasty smirk curled in the corners of his thin mouth.

"Black" one of the tall blonde boys grinned maliciously at the smaller boy.

Regulus could feel panic rising in his chest and took a nervous step backwards as the older boys made an advance on him.

"You think you're hard or something getting your big brother on me do you?" he mused his eyes glaring down at Regulus.

"I-I didn't…." Regulus stammered his heart pounding in his chest. He had nowhere to run and what made it worse was that his wand was up in his dormitory with the rest of his things. He was defenceless.

"Did you hear that, Dylan? Little Regulus is gonna deny it now" the taller of the blonde boys laughed.

"Yeah mate, I think you should talk some sense into him" the other boy declared loudly.

"That would be my plan, Logan" Dylan laughed turning his attention back to Regulus.

"So Black, got anything to say for yourself?" he asked raising his eyebrows in an amused fashion.

"I'm warning you, back off" Regulus said sharply, trying to muster as much courage as he could. Try as he might, he was desperately lacking in the category of intimidating unlike his brother. He really wished he hadn't left the common room now or had even gone to Hogsmeade with his friends, anything would be better than trapped in a toilet with these four.

"Oooh how scary" Logan sneered and the other two chuckled.

"What are you gonna do, Black? Get your brother on us again?" Dylan smirked as they advanced again. "It's such a shame he's in Hogsmeade and you're here all alone with no silly Sirius to protect you" he added and Regulus took a step back bumping into the coldness of the upper ring of the urinal. Trapped.

"S-stay away from me!" Regulus snapped his eyes darting from one boy to the next.

"I think it's time we taught little Regulus, how to respect his superiors" Dylan announced over his shoulder. The other boys straightened up and nodded their agreement.

Regulus cried out as the older boy suddenly grabbed him by the front of his t-shirt, yanking him forward his large fist collided with Regulus' stomach. His breath caught in his throat as he was thrown violently to the floor a few yards away the wind knocked out of him, the dark haired boy seized hold of him as he caught his breath back and tried desperately to struggle free from his vice like grip as the other boys advanced again.

"Hold him still" Dylan snapped raising his fist and punching Regulus square in the nose, a horrible crunch sounded and Regulus cried out in pain as blood began to pour from his broken nose.

The other boy's laid into him, punching, kicking and slapping him hard across the face, chest, legs and stomach. The dark haired boy's grip painfully hard against Regulus' skinny arms as they were forcefully pinned tighter behind his back.

Stars erupted in front of Regulus' eyes as a powerful punch to the stomach once again knocked the wind out of him. He felt himself falling dizzily to the hard stone floor and the beating subsided.

Gasping for breath and forcing his eyes back into focus Regulus lay dazed blinking up into the face of his tormentor as he leaned down and snarled at him in the most vicious voice he could muster.

"Next time you dare say anything to me, or if you get your brother involved I will get you and believe me when I say it will be a thousand times worse" Dylan spat his voice laced with venom.

With a final kick in the side, the other boys left the toilet together laughing. The door banged closed behind them and Regulus lay groaning in pain on the bathroom floor. What had he gotten himself into?

He lay still for a few moments before forcing his body to move. Getting painfully to his feet he moved over to the sink staring at his reflection in the mirror.

There was blood seeping from his broken nose and dripping down his chin onto his white t-shirt, his left eye was red and swollen underneath, there was a graze along his jaw line that was bleeding little, his bottom lip was cut and a large purple bruise was forming on his right upper cheek bone just to the side and down from his eye. He looked an absolute mess.

Walking into one of the cubicles he ripped off some toilet paper and wiped as much of the blood from his face as he could. Tossing the tissue in the bin he wandered out of the toilet. Checking the coast was clear he hurried off back down the staircase and back to his dormitory without anyone seeing him.

Shutting his dormitory door he groaned in pain. Snatching up his wand he gazed at himself in the mirror.

Poking his wand directly at his face he took a deep breath "Episkey" he said and a loud snapping noise he gasped in pain as his nose was healed back into place.

Blinking the tears from his eyes he gazed at his reflection again, his nose looked a little better at least it wasn't broken anymore and was back in it's place.

"Oh Regulus, what have you done to yourself?" he sighed staring at his smashed up face.

Grabbing a towel from his trunk he headed off to the showers hoping his wounds would heal up a bit before he went to see Sirius.

As he peeled off his layers of clothing, tossing them all into the wash basket he looked down at himself. He had bruises and angry red marks all over his torso and legs. Admittedly easy to hide from Sirius and his dorm mates.

Stepping under the shower head he let the warm water pour over his naked aching body. Sighing he began to massage soap over himself wincing at the slight pain it brought as his thoughts drifted back to Sirius.

The way they had kissed last night under the star washed sky, the moon shining across the surface of the lake spilling over the grounds. The joyful light-hearted sound of Sirius' laughter, the handsome smile that spread across his face. The way they had kissed so passionately, the feeling of Sirius' warm tender lips against his own as their tongues rolled together.

Regulus blushed madly looking down at himself, his member hard and throbbing begging for attention. Just as his fingers slowly trailed down his small frame a hand curling around the shaft of his penis a loud hammering on the door sounded.

"Oi Black, you gonna be long?" one of his dorm mates called.

"Just a second" Regulus replied feeling even more embarrassed as he quickly rinsed his hair and switched the shower off. Grabbing his dressing gown from the back of the door he wrapped it around himself and threw the towel over his head opening the door pretending to rub his hair dry as he walked past one of the boy's from his dormitory and went straight over to his bed. Hoping nobody else would see him in this state.

Dinner wouldn't be long and he would have to go straight up to the library afterwards. Biting his bottom lip he pulled a fresh pair of black skinny jeans and a long sleeved black t-shirt from his trunk. Trusting the towel down he snatched up a hoody and pulled it on, zipping right up he flipped the hood up over his head and wrapped a scarf around his neck allowing it to hang down in two separate strands over the front of his hoody. Jumping onto his bed he pulled the curtains shut and began to flip through his Transfiguration text book waiting for dinnertime.

About an hour or so passed and Regulus had become absorbed in his homework. He frowned as his eyes trailed across the pages of a text book reading it over thoroughly.

"Regulus, we're going down for something to eat, you coming?" one of the boy's called through his curtains.

"Yeah I'll see you down there just finishing some homework" he replied scribbling the last few words on his piece of parchment.

As soon as he heard the door click shut he sprang from his bed. Lifting back his hood and scarf he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He looked worse.

"Shit"

His nose although fixed and no longer bleeding had a large nasty purple and black bruise right I the middle, beneath his eye was still red and swollen, the graze looked just as fresh as it did a few hours ago, the bruise on the side of his face had darkened and he spotted some more cuts on his opposite cheek bone.

"Double shit"

Sighing he covered his face as best as possible and ran out of the dormitory towards the great hall so nobody saw him.

It was crowded when he arrived, glancing over at the Gryffindor table Sirius hadn't seen him come in so he crept down and sat on the end of the table near the door beside his friends.

"Wearing a lot of clothes aren't you?" Avery commented frowning as Regulus dropped his head to stare at his plate.

"Not really…." Regulus grumbled pulling the scarf down so he could eat.

"What the bloody hell happened to you?" Severus gasped his eyes widening as they all paused eating to stare at Regulus. They could only see parts of his face, thankfully not the whole thing.

"I umm, fell down the stairs" Regulus lied looking away uncomfortably.

"Sorry mate, don't believe you" Mulciber sighed. "Who you been fighting with?"

"Nobody" Regulus snapped.

"Alright, only asking" the boy replied and they took it as a hint not to mention it again.

Regulus looked over to the Gryffindor table, hid his head behind Avery and waved over at Sirius who grinned and waved back at him. Well at least one good thing would come out of today.

"So guys, we're going down to the Quidditch stadium about half eight but remember we can't be seen" Severus said dropping his voice so nobody else over heard him.

"Have you got the stuff?" Mulciber asked eagerly.

"Of course, I've got two kinds of it for you guys to try out, I'll do it first so you can see how it's done" Snape grinned excitedly.

"Alright, and all of us are sure we want to go through with it?" Evan asked looking around at them.

"I umm, sorry but I can't" Regulus said nervously.

They all turned to stare.

"Why not? You were all up for it a few days ago" Avery blinked confusedly.

"I'm just not feeling too well" Regulus sighed in response.

"You sure mate?" Evan asked with a concerned frown. After seeing the partial state of Regulus' face they didn't really want to question anything.

"Yeah my face is really sore like, I'd just really rather go and lie down" he shrugged without looking up from his plate.

"Maybe you should go to Pomfrey" Snape frowned.

"Nah, it'll wear off I'm not ill I'm just sore" Regulus replied.

"Well alright then, we'll save you some for next time" they grinned.

After dinner, Regulus managed to fall behind them a little way and slip away with a crowd of Ravenclaw's up the staircases and towards the library. Conscious of his appearance, he readjusted his clothes and snuck quietly into the library and made his way over to the back row behind the bookcases sitting down at a table.

Regulus pulled a book from the pile on the table. He sat with his back to the door, an empty chair beside him and began skim reading over the pages of an Ancient Runes text book he would probably need to look at anyway sometime.

He let out a surprised squeak as a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders and immediately dropped his head as Sirius chuckled quietly dropping into the seat next to him, his long black hair falling over the sides of his face as he shielded most of himself from view.

"It's only me, Reg" Sirius grinned to his brother. "Expecting someone else?"

Regulus shook his head as he stared silently down at the book.

"Why have you got your hood up anyway, is that a scarf?" Sirius frowned edging closer to his brother. Reaching out he was surprised when Regulus cowered away from him a terrified look in his eyes.

"Regulus, what's wrong?" Sirius asked softly as the other boy tried to turn his mostly covered face away again.

"Nothing, I'm fine" Regulus mumbled quickly.

"I'm not buying that, Reg, tell me what's wrong with you" Sirius said in a serious tone.

Sirius sighed and reached out gently pulling Regulus into a warm hug, the boy winced beneath him and he drew back slowly.

He watched as Regulus took a deep breath, dropped his hood and pulled his scarf off revealing his battered face.

"What the fucking hell happened to you?" Sirius asked his face a mixture of shock, sadness and anger.

"I can't tell you" Regulus mumbled quietly and looked away.

"You can and you will, I'm your brother and your boyfriend Regulus, you can tell me anything" Sirius asked reaching out and taking the smaller boy's hands in his own, a gesture that warmed Regulus' heart.

"They said that if I told you then they would come and get me…." Regulus sighed tears welling up in his eyes, he was frightened to be honest. Trying for force the tears back he took some deep breaths, crying just wasn't the Slytherin way of doing things, it showed weakness and the weaker you were the more vulnerable you were and the easier it was for someone to hurt you.

Sirius was quiet for a few moments before his face turned very stern.

"Was it that red haired guy from yesterday?" he asked quickly.

"Dylan, yeah, and his friends" Regulus sighed. "I couldn't help it there were four of them against me and I didn't have my wand, I couldn't get out and they just attacked me" Regulus said quickly.

"Come here" Sirius smiled gently pulling his lover into a loving hug kissing his silky black hair gently.

"You can't say anything, don't tell them I told you, please" Regulus said panic stricken.

"Regulus listen to me, nobody is going to hurt you especially not with me around, now, we're going to report this and leave the rest to me, I might not be in Slytherin but I have a fair few friends who can back me up I'll sort this guy out for you don't worry" Sirius spoke softly into the boy's hair filling him with warmth as he inhaled deeply, Sirius' scent filling him.

"I was really scared" Regulus breathed relaxing into his brother's arms.

"You're safe now and I think I might just have a way of keeping you safe tonight" Sirius pulled back a little smiling into Regulus' misty eyes.

"What, how?" the boy asked confusedly.

"Come on, first I want us to report this to Dumbledore and then I'll show you" Sirius winked. Getting to his feet he held out his hand which Regulus took with a smile. The day was improving drastically already.

Meanwhile down at the Quidditch Stadium….

"Come on Snape, hurry up" Mulciber said impatiently as they settled down into the grass beside the stands. Snape pulled four corked bottles filled with about three inches of a misty blue liquid each and smoke trapped inside beneath the corked top. He handed one to each of the boys who stared at it confusedly and then pulled a large tin from his bag.

Picking up his own bottle he uncorked the lid, the smoke began to slowly filter out and he pressed his bottom lip to the top of the bottle and inhaled deeply through his mouth closing his eyes. And again he inhaled deeply the smoke disappearing into his mouth and he exhaled some through his nose. Sitting upright he opened his eyes feeling the drugs taking effect on him.

"Try it while I roll" he said with a grin an popped the tin open taking some of the ingredients out.

Avery was the first to uncork his bottle, glancing at his other two friends he copied exactly what Snape did and his eyes flashed open straight away.

"That's a bit fucking strong" he coughed feeling himself drastically changing in mood and took another draw on it. The others copied him and they were soon enjoying themselves too much.

Using the tip of his wand, Severus lit the joint in his hand and took a deep drag on it before passing it along to Avery.

It was soon passed round and round before Severus lit another one and began to drag deeply on it. He had been doing this for the past two years now and wasn't planning to stop anytime soon. Slinging an arm around Avery's shoulders he leaned in and kissed him sloppily on the lips pushing some of the smoke into his lungs. The other two boy sat slightly stunned for a few moments as they continued to drag on their potion fumes.

As Avery pushed Severus back into the grass Evan shouted out "Get a room" and Mulciber burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter.

"Don't worry, we'll use the dorm…." Snape replied without breaking the kiss.

Following Sirius and Regulus….

"Ah good evening boy's, how may I help you?" Dumbledore smiled as the two of them walked up into his office with Professor McGonagall standing beside them obviously having brought them up and looking rather worried.

Dumbledore looked from Sirius to Regulus and frowned.

"What on earth has happened to your face?" the aging man asked with a frown.

"He's been having some trouble with a group of older Slytherin's, yesterday evening one of them threw a plate of food over him and Regulus swore at him, so the guy went to punch him but I intervened" Sirius began, looking down at Regulus he nudged him in the side gently to speak.

"Yes umm today I was in the toilet outside the library and Dylan and his friends came in, started having a go at me and then one of his friends grabbed me and pinned my arms behind my back while the others beat me up" Regulus said averting his eyes. "They broke my nose but I fixed it myself and I have a lot of bruises under my clothes" he added quickly.

"I see, now what are the names of these boys?" Dumbledore asked pulling a spare piece of parchment out and dabbing the tip of his quill in the inkwell.

"Dylan Talman, Logan Kenneth, Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle" Regulus said quickly watching the man scribble the names down.

"Alright then, I will speak to them immediately and find a punishment most suitable for them, thank you for your time boys and do be careful" the elderly man smiled at them.

"Thank you Professor" Sirius said and Regulus smiled.

"See you soon" Dumbledore said as Professor McGonagall lead them back out of the room and down the small staircase.

"I suggest you go to Madame Pomfrey and have yourself checked over just to be sure, try to stay well away from those boys" she said as they reached the bottom.

"I will, Professor" Regulus replied.

"And Sirius, you keep yourself out of trouble again I don't want to be called out of teaching or out of bed in the middle of the night to sort out the damage you have done" she pointed a long finger accusingly at Sirius making Regulus smirk.

"Oh Professor, you know I'd never do anything bad" Sirius fake gasped and McGonagall rolled her eyes.

"Just whatever you're planning, or thinking about planning, don't" she said before turning on her heels and marching away from them.

"Does it feel better now you've told?" Sirius turned to his brother draping an arm around his lower back.

"Yeah I guess so, thanks" Regulus smiled gently.

"No worries, now come on, I have something to show you" Sirius grinned taking Regulus by the hand and dragging him at a run towards the staircase and up a flight of stairs.

"Where are we going?" Regulus panted for breath as they rounded the corner at one end of the corridor and ran straight down towards a forked path.

"You'll see" Sirius replied skidding to a halt in front of the wall at the forked path. Glancing up and down in each direction he turned to face the wall.

"What are we looking at?" Regulus frowned as Sirius stared hard at the wall.

Few moments later a door filtered into view, solid and well decorated.

"What the hell?" Regulus asked confusedly as Sirius took him gently by the hand and lead him up to it.

"Close your eyes" the older boy spoke. He watched as his brother shut them tight before turning the handle and pulling him inside the room shutting and locking the door behind them. The doorway disappeared back into the wall.

"Okay, open your eyes" Sirius whispered into Regulus' ear as the boy opened his eyes slowly staring around him in disbelief.

Regulus gasped, the room was a bit larger than the dormitories but had a large king sized four poster bed sitting against the back wall made up with heavy bedding and many over fluffed pillows of black and red satin, there were two night stands one on each side of the bed and two crystal glasses and large dark coloured bottles sitting beside it. The floor was made of dark stone as the walls but a large sheepskin rug lay across the foot of the bed. The walls were lit with torches and a door leading off to the side into an unknown room.

"Do you like it?" Sirius asked softly pressing his lips to Regulus' neck.

"It's gorgeous, I never knew there was such a place in the school" he replied fully taking in the sight of the room as Sirius took him by the hand and pulled him towards the bed.

"It's called the room of requirement, it appears and provides one with what they need most" Sirius began picking up a glass and pouring what appeared to be some kind of red wine into it, handing the glass to Regulus he poured one for himself. "What we need the most is a nice comfy place to stay the night where we can have some privacy to just relax"

Regulus took a sip of the alcohol, it burned at his throat as he swallowed it down.

"Here, I brought you this" Sirius said dropping his bag on the floor beside the bed and pulling a long blue nightshirt from it.

"Where did you get that, I thought I lost it" Regulus stared at the familiar nightwear his mouth hanging open with surprise.

"I nicked it from your bedroom at home before we left for school" Sirius flushed a little.

"What for?" Regulus chuckled admiring the rosy glow to his brothers cheeks.

"In case you needed it and so I had something to remind me of you at night time" Sirius blushed more. "I've been sleeping with it"

"If I wear it tonight it'll smell more like me for you?" Regulus smiled as Sirius handed him the nightshirt.

Sirius nodded quickly and pulled his own shirt from his bag.

Regulus watched as Sirius began to pull off his clothes and carelessly threw them to the floor. He stood in his baggy white boxer shorts smiling at Regulus who felt a familiar rush descend through his body as his brother pulled the knee length black shirt over his head and stood staring at Regulus expectantly.

"Aren't you gonna get changed?" Sirius asked downing the rest of his drink.

"Oh, uhh yes of course" Regulus blushed, finishing off his wine he began to slowly pull off his clothes revealing his bruised torso. Nervously he fumbled with his trousers and dropped them feeling the heat rise to his cheeks as Sirius' eyes dropped down to his waist. Regulus was standing just in front of him wearing nothing but a tight pair of black boxers, his erection straining against the tight fabric.

Blushing furiously he made to pull the nightshirt over his head covering it quickly he crossed his legs over and looked away.

"Aww Reg, don't be embarrassed come here" Sirius said softly pulling him into his arms.

"You know something?" he purred into Regulus' ear making him shudder a little as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

Regulus shook his head silently enjoying the feel of his brother wrapped around him.

"There's only one way to get rid of that" Sirius whispered pressing his lips to his brothers soft neck.

Slowly, Sirius pushed Regulus back onto the bed. Moving so they were in a comfortable position, Regulus lying on his back with Sirius leaning over him from his right hand side, Sirius brought their lips together in a tender kiss.

His tongue traced along the smaller boy's bottom lip begging for entrance, parting his lips slightly, Regulus allowed Sirius into fully explore his mouth.

Sirius moaned softly as heir tongues began trapped in a battle for dominance of each other's mouths. Regulus draped his arms around his brothers neck as he broke the kiss pressing his lips along Regulus' jaw line and down his neck suckling on the pulse point.

"Sirius" Regulus moaned as his brother kissed his way down him, he moved to kneel between Regulus' legs spreading them apart. His hands slowly trailed upwards underneath Regulus' nightshirt bunching it slightly as his fingers tucked into the waistband of the boy's underwear.

"Do you want me to?" Sirius whispered leaning forward so his lips were barely an inch away from his brothers his hands still tucked into the edge of his underwear.

"Please…." Regulus moaned making Sirius smirk playfully, with one swift movement the boxers were down an off, thrown onto the floor with the rest of their clothes.

Sirius pressed his lips briefly onto Regulus' before leaning back and lifting up the front of Regulus' nightshirt smiling down at his genitals. He grinned at the long smooth shaft encased in soft pale skin, the tip rosy and flushed with pre-cum already leaking out. His eyes fell upon the small amount of soft black pubic hair decorating the area above his penis when his eyes fell lower to the perfectly smooth, hairless rounded testicles beneath.

Looking back up into Regulus' face he noticed the boy was blushing furiously trying to cover his face with his hands.

"Don't be embarrassed, you're gorgeous" Sirius breathed moving back so he was lying over the top of his brother. He nudged Regulus' hands out of the way and immediately began to kiss him passionately as his fingers curled around the shaft of the other boy's throbbing member. Regulus tensed and let out a soft moan as Sirius began to stroke him gently, flipping the foreskin back and forth across the head.

"Oh god, Sirius!" Regulus moaned loudly as his brother quickened his pace, his lips pressing down on Regulus' gently nibbling and sucking on his bottom lip driving him mad.

"You're so hot when you moan" Sirius groaned gazing into his brother's pleasure stricken face. His cheeks flushed with arousal, his eyes misty and swirling with the pleasure he was receiving and his kiss swollen lips parted slightly emitting small whimpers.

"More…." Regulus gasped feeling Sirius' hand pumping his shaft rougher, he could feel his climax building inside of him.

"Cum for me" Sirius whispered watching Regulus biting his bottom lip groaning loudly.

Thefamiliar clenching in his balls as they rose upwards, Sirius' lips against his neck as Regulus cried out Sirius' name and ejaculated in this spurts all over himself and Sirius' hand.

Sirius milked every drop out of him until he twitched uncontrollably panting for breath. Letting go of the softening member, Sirius moved to lay down next to his brother.

Regulus' breathing slowly returned to normal as he grasped Sirius' cum soaked hand and raised it to his mouth, his little pink tongue traced along his fingers licking every drop of and Sirius moaned loudly at the sight.

"That is incredibly hot" Sirius breathed gazing into his brother's eyes.

A mischievous smirk crossed Regulus' face, one that Sirius had never seen before. His grey eyes lit up with a fire that brought a powerful stirring inside Sirius and his already throbbing member gave a joyful leap.

Sitting himself up he continued to smirk making Sirius feel uncomfortable.

"It's my turn now" Regulus grinned pressing Sirius down into the bed covers, he parted his brothers legs lying down as he shifted the shirt up and swiftly pulled Sirius' boxers off throwing them to the side.

Regulus leaned up and kissed Sirius sloppily on the lips as his brother propped himself up against the headboard. Regulus moved back down lifting his brothers shirt up he began kissing the insides of his pale taught thighs.

"Oh fuck, Regulus" Sirius moaned feeling Regulus' hand wrap around the shaft of his hard member.

Regulus pressed his lips to Sirius' balls before kissing the tip of his hard member, his tongue flicking out teasing the leaking slit. Sirius moaned loudly startled by his brother's actions.

Regulus moaned parting his lips he took the head of Sirius' erection into his mouth, his tongue swirling around it.

"Whoa Reg, you don't need to do that" Sirius said quickly, his cheeks on fire and he was panting with excitement.

"I want to, you taste so good" Regulus groaned looking up into Sirius' face for a few moments before taking Sirius further into his mouth, sucking and licking him at the same time.

Sirius moaned loudly as Regulus' tongue traced up and down his length before his mouth engulfed it again hungrily. Regulus was groaning himself as he began to suck harder on his brother's member.

"It feels so good…." Sirius groaned his fingers tangling in Regulus' hair as the boy sucked harder and faster on his length.

All too soon and Sirius could feel his climax about to arrive.

"Reg, I'm gonna cum" he panted his eyes open as Regulus gave him one final hard suck and he shot his seed into Regulus' awaiting mouth, the boy's face tilted down a little and the last few drops spilled onto his lips.

Regulus drew back swallowing the load in his mouth he stared innocently at Sirius who's eyes were wide and his face flushed.

"Regulus…." he moaned as the boy moved closer to him, pressing their lips together so Sirius could taste himself on his brother's tender lips.

The kiss lasted several minutes before they broke apart and Regulus lay down next to his brother. Sirius grabbed the bedding and pulled it up over them before wrapping his arms tightly around his lover and kissing him softly on the forehead.

"Thank you" he whispered into the main of silky black locks.

"Don't mention it" Regulus smiled relaxing into Sirius' arms.

"I love you" Sirius smiled closing his eyes.

"I love you too, Sirius" Regulus grinned his heart fluttering madly in his chest. Regulus pushed the thoughts of what would happen when Dylan and his friends found out they had told Dumbledore what he done, he wasn't going to let anything spoil his mood right now. Although he had a rough day things were improving drastically, just being in Sirius' arms made it all worth while….


	5. Gryffindor Tower

It was the middle of the next morning when the boys woke. Sirius' eyes cracked open and he blinked himself awake. Yawning he smiled down at Regulus lying still sleeping next to him, his lips slightly parted lying on his side facing his brother still wrapped in his arms. His face looked painfully sore, the bruises having taken their full colour and the grazes still present on his face. Anger welled up inside Sirius as he pictured that Dylan mercilessly beating his younger brother like this in the toilets. Leaning forward he kissed the smaller boy softly on the forehead.

A smirk curled in the corners of his mouth as his right hand slowly slid under the covers and down further, reaching between his brothers legs he gently began to stroke his soft member through his fingers feeling it harden under his touch. Regulus stirred but settled back to sleep a slight frown creasing in his eyebrows. Sirius continued to tease him into arousal watching his cheeks starting to glow pink with excitement as Regulus emitted a soft mewling sound.

Sirius bit his bottom lip and began to stroke harder, the sensation making Regulus' eyes flutter open. He groaned and gazed up at Sirius for a few moments before gasping and moaning loudly in pleasure. With one final rough stroke, Regulus came on Sirius' hand again, he watched the younger boy's face wash with arousal, pleasure and confusion as he shuddered the last of his orgasm out and slumped back against the pillows.

Without a word, he reached his hand under the covers, picked up Sirius' and began to lick his own hot seed off once again.

"Do you enjoy the taste of yourself?" Sirius chuckled kissing Regulus on the forehead again and pulling him against his chest.

"Not as much as I enjoy the taste of you" he yawned comfortably making Sirius chuckle.

"Dirty boy" Sirius teased playfully.

"You know you love it" Regulus grinned and they both burst out laughing.

"I do indeed, now how about we take a shower together and go get something to eat" Sirius suggested running his fingers through his brothers silky locks.

"I've already had my breakfast" Regulus smirked cheekily.

"Incredibly dirty" Sirius chuckled. "Come on, there's a shower through here, a whole bathroom in fact"

"This room really is amazing" Regulus grinned as Sirius pulled him from the bed and towards the shower.

About half an hour later they emerged from the room of requirement, sneaking off down the corridors they headed towards the great hall. It was around ten thirty when they came down, toast and fruit were still on the tables and a good majority of the students were there.

Sirius and Regulus walked to their own house tables, Regulus nervously kept his head down hoping that nobody would notice the state of his face as he dropped down next to his friends and snatched a bright red apple from the fruit bowl in the centre.

"Just where have you been?" Mulciber asked raising an eyebrow suspiciously at the boy.

"I've been in my dormitory" Regulus blinked taking a bite of his apple.

"No you haven't, one of your mates said you didn't go back last night" the boy said quickly.

"Oh yeah I fell asleep in the library, I just went back now" Regulus lied.

"Right…." Mulciber nodded still suspicious of the boy.

"How was it for you guys last night?" Regulus asked quickly looking at each of the four other boys in turn hoping to get the subject off of him. And it worked.

"It was brilliant, you should have been there it was just so much fun" Evan grinned excitedly. Severus and Avery both blushed madly and shifted in their seats.

"Yeah so much fun that Severus and Avery ended up shagging half the night" Mulciber smirked as Snape buried his face in his hands.

"Seriously? You two had sex?" Regulus asked in disbelief, his thin dark eyebrows rising up to his hairline.

"Yeah, they came back with us, couldn't keep their hands of each other and went running up to the dormitory together and by the time we went up it was gone three and they were both lying snuggled up together stark naked the room stunk of sex" Mulciber replied and Evan nodded in agreement.

"Shut up" Severus replied in a playful tone trying to hide the smirk on his face.

"So what was it like, did it hurt, who bottomed?" Regulus asked eagerly looking from Severus to Avery and back again. Severus turned brick red and bit his bottom lip.

"I did, and it hurt quite a lot at first but it felt really good and then he hit my prostate and it was all go from there" the dark haired boy flushed furiously. "We even did it twice" he added blushing a deep shade of crimson.

"You were an animal" Avery beamed, his eyes glittering with excitement.

"A bit too much information there thanks…." Mulciber winced.

Finishing his apple, Regulus got up and walked out of the great hall unsure of what to do with himself.

"Reg, wait up!" Sirius' voice called from behind him. He turned around as Sirius stopped in front of him slightly out of breath.

"I was wondering if you fancied going for a fly this afternoon, you know on the brooms?" Sirius asked happily.

"I'd love to, what about your friends?" Regulus asked curiously.

"They're going to Hogsmeade again I told them I wanted to spend the day with you, they don't mind" Sirius smiled his handsome face lighting up.

"Cool, I'd really like that" Regulus grinned.

"Fancy helping me with my Ancient Runes homework? I know how good you are at it…." Sirius pouted a little making his handsome features even more prominent.

"Sirius, you're a year ahead of me" Regulus laughed.

"Yeah but you're really good at it" Sirius whined pouting more. Regulus sighed and smirked.

"Alright, but if your homework ends up so shit you get in trouble then don't blame me" he chuckled as Sirius slung his arm around him and they made their way up to the library.

"Then I'll have to say my naughty, sexy little brother did it for me" Sirius purred into his ear.

"You really think I'm sexy?" Regulus flushed as they walked into the library and took their seats on the back row.

"Wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it" Sirius grinned kissing his brother on his temple.

A few hours passed and they had only managed to write one page of work through staring at each other losing concentration, stopping for quick make out sessions when the coast was clear and losing themselves in conversations every five minutes messing around.

"How about we go for a ride now?" Sirius said suddenly.

"Well that's one way of getting someone into bed" Regulus blushed and chuckled lightly.

"Regulus Black, you really are terribly dirty minded" Sirius teased. "I meant on the brooms" he added.

"Oh of course let's go, and umm…. sorry" Regulus cringed with embarrassment.

"It's fine gorgeous, come on" and the two boys strolled from the library, Sirius' arm hanging around his brother's shoulders once again.

They walked quietly down the stairs, a group of Hufflepuff girls shooting Regulus jealous glares. Sirius although people made him out to be some kind of man whore, in fact was a virgin who hadn't done anything past kissing and flashing toothy grins at people. His behaviour depicted that of a player but Regulus knew in his heart that Sirius wouldn't leave him for someone else or accept anyone's advances if they so happened even if their relationship was a secret.

"It's gonna be locked" Regulus raised an eyebrow as they snuck up to the ground floor broom cupboard.

"Well that's nothing I can't sort" Sirius grinned pulling out his wand. "Alohomora" he said and the door clicked open immediately.

Checking that nobody was watching they snuck inside, Sirius shut the door behind them not wanting to get in trouble with Madame Hooch if she just so happened to walk by and find them breaking in to steal their brooms. Flying was allowed on weekends as long as it was restricted to the Quidditch pitch and surrounding areas but not that many students did it especially if they were not very good other things seemed to occupy their time including Village visits and such. Even James Potter, chaser and captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team didn't fly that often.

It was a fairly large broom cupboard. There were labelled wooden lockers around the walls, Sirius moved over to one and opening it up sure enough there were the two brooms of his own and his brothers.

Regulus moved across in front of Sirius, reaching down into the locker he pulled at his broom, stumbling back it came out abruptly and his backside bumped into Sirius' hips sending a scorching blaze to his cheeks once again.

"Want something do you, Reg?" Sirius teased wrapping his arms around his brothers waist and pulling him back against his chest.

"It was an accident" Regulus mumbled as Sirius placed soft kisses down his neck.

"Was last night and this morning not enough for you?" Sirius growled deep within his throat.

"It was…. Spectacular" Regulus groaned softly.

"Good" Sirius grinned leaning down and seizing his broom.

"Come on then, let's get going there's somewhere I want to show you"

With that, Regulus ran out of the broom cupboard after his brother and headed along the corridor and out the side entrance to the castle. They hurried up the long stone staircase up the side of the castle and out onto one of the high stone walkways.

"Sirius, where are we going?" Regulus panted once again finding it hard to keep up with Sirius.

They skidded to a halt around the side of the Ravenclaw tower on a large open balcony like place miles below.

"I found this place one day with James, Remus and Peter" Sirius began mounting his broom and gesturing for Regulus to do the same.

"Come one, let's go" Sirius grinned before kicking off and his broom shot out ahead, Regulus flew into the air flying along side his brother even he had to admit he was a much better flyer.

The two boys raced along side by side flying lower so they were almost skimming across the lakes surface laughing loudly, the wind violently rushing through their hair as they pelted along. Swinging off to the right, Sirius slowed as he came to a small clearing by the side of the forest. Regulus followed down after him and they landed in the small grassy clearing by the running lakeside.

It was a beautiful clear autumn day, the sun was shining and it was perfectly warm outside it felt like a summers day.

"Well, what do you think?" Sirius asked hopefully resting his broom down on the floor Regulus followed suit and stood gazing around at the peaceful open scenery trees of the forest swaying in the gentle breeze behind them. He could see the castle in the distance, the thick river of water flowing gently away from the enormous Black Lake.

"I think it's gorgeous, how did you ever find this place?" Regulus asked, his breath caught in his throat as Sirius' arms wrapped around his waist.

"You remember what I told you over the summer about Remus?" Sirius whispered into Regulus' ear.

The boy nodded slowly.

"Well one night we were practicing turning into Animagi to accompany him on his transformations and we came across this place" Sirius spoke slowly.

"You're trying to become an Animagus?" Regulus gasped.

"Yes, It's almost a sound transformation we just need to give it a few more practice runs before we can go out and keep Remus company" Sirius replied pressing his lips to Regulus' neck.

"Does the school know? What about the Ministry I hear they keep tabs on all Animagi or those trying to become one, and you're joking right he's a Werewolf he could _kill_ you!" Regulus said quickly, panic rising in his chest.

"No nobody knows apart from James, Peter, Remus, you and I" Sirius began slowly. "Werewolves are only dangerous to humans, I transformed successfully a few times and approached him from a slight distance but he didn't even growl at me" Sirius replied holding Regulus tighter as though frightened he would run away.

Regulus remained silent for a few moments "What is your form?" he asked quietly gazing out across the scenery.

"You want me to show you?" Sirius chuckled and Regulus nodded.

"Alright then, close your eyes" Sirius whispered drawing himself back and pulling out his wand, he still hadn't mastered changing into his Animagi form without the use of a wand yet but had no trouble changing back into a human.

Regulus closed his eyes breathing slowly he heard a loud shuffle behind him and felt a warm wet tongue licking at his right hand. His eyes shot open and he looked down into the eyes of an enormous black dog with thick shaggy fur.

"Sirius?" Regulus jumped back with surprise eyeing up the dog as it padded closer to him.

The dog let out a soft whine and before he knew what was happening the dog tackled him to the grassy ground and began to furiously lick his face.

"Sirius! Oh please…. Stop!" Regulus laughed pushing the dog away.

"I can't believe you managed it" Regulus breathed admiring the dog. It was very difficult to become an Animagi and even more so that he and his friends had managed it being only fifth years at school.

Regulus watched as the dog morphed back into the form of his brother who began to laugh loudly snatching up his wand from the grass a few feet away.

"It was hard work don't get me wrong but well worth it" Sirius grinned stuffing his wand back into his pocket.

"What forms do your friends take?" Regulus asked tilting his head to one side curiously.

"Well Remus is a Werewolf, James is a stag, I'm a dog and Peter is a rat" Sirius replied with a smile.

"Interesting…." Regulus replied thoughtfully.

"But you can't tell anyone about this because we'll be expelled that includes Remus so please don't tell anyone" Sirius said quickly a hint of pleading in his voice.

"You have my word" Regulus smiled and the two boys leaned forward and gently pressed their lips together.

That evening they strolled into the great hall together, parting ways they headed down to their own house tables. It had been a brilliant day, Regulus was asked to meet Sirius straight after dinner again.

"Evening, Regulus" Mulciber greeted as the boy sat down beside him. "Your face looks a bit better tonight"

Regulus stared at him suspiciously.

"What have you done?"

"Nothing, I only thought your face was looking a bit better" Mulciber frowned. Regulus had every right to be suspicious of the boy as on several occasions Mulciber had been overly nice to him after he had done something which would either upset Regulus or land him in a lot of trouble such as when he put Honeydukes long lasting chewing gum in a pair of his boxers 'by accident' and he miserably stood and had to shave off the small amount of pubic hair he had so proudly grown at the time to get rid of the chewing gum, Mulciber had then decided to change the colour of Regulus' robes because he thought Regulus was looking a bit dark and depressed, Regulus in turn hexed him a nice pair of bunny ears he had to walk around with for three days after.

"Fair enough…." Regulus eyed him suspiciously again making a mental note to check this things thoroughly.

"What have you been doing all day anyway?" Evan asked curiously.

"Oh I was with Sirius" Regulus replied straight.

"Fair enough, I hope he's not rubbing off on you" Evan replied shovelling a forkful of food into his mouth as Regulus' face burned brick red which didn't go unnoticed by the other boys.

"What's gotten into you?" Avery asked with a frown staring his friend in the face.

"Nothing I'm just too hot" Regulus laughed fanning his face with his hand nervously earning him strange looks from his friends.

"You're a strange one, Black" Snape stared at him hard, his deep black eyes almost penetrating Regulus' skin. He always felt the need to be careful with what he said around Snape, true Severus wouldn't gossip about him and he was extremely trustworthy it was just the unnerving way he went about it.

"You're a sexy one, Snape" Avery growled wrapping his arms around Severus' waist and repeatedly kissing him sloppily on the cheek making Severus blush and giggle like a school girl. Quite a lot of people were staring at them even after Avery had stopped kissing Severus and just sat with his arm around him whispering things in his ear. Severus looked like he was about to explode even some of the students from other tables were having a look at them and whispering amongst themselves.

"Put a lid on it" Mulciber cringed playfully at his friends.

"No thanks, we prefer bareback" Avery grinned sinking his teeth into the tip of Severus' ear. Regulus almost choked on his pumpkin juice.

"Okay, way too much information there cowboy" Evan cringed and they all burst out laughing.

After dinner, Regulus insisted he had left something in the library to avoid his friends as he hung back in the main entrance for Sirius. He stood and waited behind a statue making himself just visible when he saw Sirius come out laughing an joking with the other three boys.

Sirius gestured up the stairs and then waved his hands signalling ten minutes. Regulus nodded in understanding and shrank back behind the statue to hide.

Waiting for a good few minutes, Regulus eagerly hurried off up the stairs running straight up the enormous staircases where he spotted Sirius hanging around outside the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"What's going on?" Regulus panted as Sirius grabbed him gently by the arm and guided him along the corridor and around a corner pushing him up against a dark shadowed wall so they were both out of sight.

"Okay I'm going to show you something else you can't tell anyone about, it's not mine it's James' but we're gonna need it tonight I robbed his trunk for it" Sirius said in a hushed tone pulling a long silvery piece of material from his schoolbag. On the second glance Regulus realised it was some kind of cloak.

"And you're showing me a random silver cloak because?" Regulus raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Because this isn't just any old cloak, Reg, it's an invisibility cloak and we're going to use it tonight to get you into the Gryffindor tower" Sirius said glancing up and down in case someone was watching.

"The Gryffindor tower? What for?" Regulus was incredibly surprised.

"I don't want you going back into Slytherin until we've sorted those pricks out for what they did to you I won't be able to sleep with the worry and I know you'll be safe with me" Sirius said quickly with a warm smile.

"That's really sweet" Regulus smiled he could feel himself melting a little at his brothers kind words.

"It's true, but anyway put this on and lets get going" Sirius said unfolding the cloak.

"I don't have any of my things with me" Regulus jumped.

"I have things you can use and I have a few of your things from yesterday and one or two bits in my trunk" Sirius smiled flinging the cloak around Regulus' shoulders before he had time to ask why Sirius had been robbing him blind.

The boy looked down and gasped at the sight, it really was an invisibility cloak as his entire lower body and chest was gone. Sirius leaned in and kissed him sweetly on the lips before lifting the hood up and Regulus' face completely disappeared.

"Okay, stand in front of me and I'll guide you there, you'll need to go in first and then we can go up to the dormitory" Sirius said to supposedly thin air, if anyone saw him they would think he had gone mad and was having a conversation with the wall.

Regulus walked in front of him leaning back slightly, Sirius rested his hand lightly on Regulus' hip as the two walked out of their hiding place and back to the portrait of the fat lady.

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia" Sirius said to the portrait, the Fat Lady flushed a little fluttering her eyelashes at Sirius and swung forward instantly to let him in. Quickly Regulus climbed through the portrait hole and almost fell out the other side when Sirius bumped into him, he wasn't used to having to do that especially seeing as Slytherin didn't have a portrait hole but instead had a wall that required a password and a small passageway into the common room.

Regulus stopped and stared around the half empty Gryffindor common room. It was draped in red and gold banners, a lovely warm set room with a roaring bright fireplace and large comfortable looking chairs. It had a very relaxed homely appearance which was unlike the dark gothic style of the Slytherin dungeons.

"Come on" Sirius whispered as Regulus followed him past a group of giggling girls and up the staircase into the dormitories.

"Keep the cloak on until I say so, okay?" Sirius smirked to the air beside him before turning the handle and pushing his dormitory door open.

Once again it was very unlike the Slytherin dormitories with it's warm setting, the curtains hanging around the lighter coloured four poster beds were red instead of green and the tower had a much different view outside than the dungeons underneath the lake. Instead of the green and silver serpent banners hung around the room there were red and gold lion ones.

"Where did you go?" James looked up from the Quidditch magazine he was flipping through whilst lounging across his bed. Peter sat in the bed opposite frowning down at the parchment he was writing on and by the looks of things it was herbology homework, Remus was lying on his bed next to Peter and the spare bed next to his must have been Sirius'.

"Oh I just needed some air" Sirius yawned walking over to his bed and Regulus shuffled along quietly behind him.

"So anyway, we just need to add our names to the map and it will be finished, we were thinking of adding our own little sayings for anyone who tried to cast a revealing charm on it, they'll get more than they bargained for when they get an eyeful of insults" James chuckled nodding at the large chunk of parchment sitting on his bedside table.

"Maybe Snivellus will read it sometime, I'd love to write some serious abuse for him" Peter laughed making James grin maniacally.

"Snivellus eh? I'd rather drown that little snake in the lake with my bare hands" he said turning over a page in his magazine, a look of utter disgust washing over his face.

Sirius bit his bottom lip still standing by his bed he looked down at the space next to him he knew where Regulus was standing knowing James' trashing of Snape would upset him.

Sirius pretended to busy himself arranging the books on his bedside table as James jumped off his bed and kicked open his trunk he immediately began to rummage around his nose wrinkled in confusion.

"Has anyone seen my invisibility cloak?" James looked up at both Remus and Peter who were shaking their heads.

Sirius took a deep breath.

"Here it is, James" he said loudly pulling the soft material off of his brother.

James' jaw dropped, Remus sat bolt upright in bed staring from Sirius to Regulus and Peter squealed with surprise.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?" Remus exclaimed ogling at Regulus in confusion as Sirius folded the cloak and chucked it across to James' bed.

Regulus' eyes dropped to his shoes and he felt extremely uncomfortable, edging closer to Sirius for comfort.

"Bloody hell what's happened to your face?" James gasped his eyes scanning over Regulus' bruised and battered face.

"He's been having some trouble with some of the other Slytherin's they attacked him yesterday when he didn't have his wand and I don't want him to go back into the Slytherin common room with them in there until this is resolved" Sirius said quickly looking around the room at the mixture of expressions on his friends faces.

"Why did they do that?" Remus asked with a frown.

"You remember when I went over there to stop that red head from punching him out in the great hall? Well it was because he threw food all over Regulus and Reg told him to f off so now he's after him" Sirius replied quickly.

"Ah, haven't you told Slughorn or Dumbledore?" Remus asked again.

"Yeah of course but fat lot of good that'll do on a Sunday" Sirius sighed as he began to pull off his clothes. Standing in his underwear Regulus had to look away from his brother trying not to blush or get aroused as Sirius bent over and pulled a baggy t-shirt from his trunk, grabbing a nightshirt and a plain white t-shirt he held them up.

"Which one?" Sirius asked turning to Regulus.

"Whoa hang on a minute, he's staying here tonight?" James asked slamming his trunk shut.

"Of course" Sirius blinked as Regulus grabbed the t-shirt feeling it was probably a better idea to sleep in his underwear tonight if his brother and room mates were going to do it, in a way it would seem more acceptable to them.

"Where exactly do you think he's gonna sleep?" James replied.

"He can sleep with me, in my bed" Sirius shrugged and Regulus fought desperately hard to keep his face the normal shade of ivory.

"Alright then, I'm going down to the common room see if I can find Evans, you coming Peter?" James asked turning towards the door. The great lump sitting on the bed opposite leapt from his position knocking his homework to the floor and went charging off like a bull after James, the scene was almost comical and Regulus had to bite his finger to stop himself from laughing at the other boy's desperation to be liked.

Sirius reached under his bed, grabbed a clear large bottle out and sat it on the bedside table as Regulus undressed and pulled Sirius' t-shirt over his head. It was too big for Sirius let alone Regulus, if it was any longer it would be like a dress coming down to about three inches above the bottom of his boxer shorts.

"Water for if you get thirsty in the night" he grinned flopping down onto his bed and shuffling over patting the bed beside him for Regulus to lie next to him.

Regulus glanced over at Remus who had pulled out a book and was reading happily before lying on the bed next to his brother.

Sirius turned onto his left side grinning madly and whispered into his little brother's ear "You look gorgeous tonight"

Regulus rolled onto his side to face Sirius as his brother yanked the curtains closed around the whole bed.

"Thanks, so do you" Regulus smiled looking his brother up and down smiling.

"Hey can I talk to you about something?" Sirius said at almost a whisper.

"Sure, what is it?" Regulus frowned slightly.

"Remember earlier on today in the broom cupboard when you bumped into my hips by accident and you said something about getting into bed?" Sirius asked nervously his eyes wandering to stare at the curtains and he fidgeted slightly.

Regulus nodded quickly.

"Well I was wondering if you umm…." Sirius began a rosy glow lighting up his cheeks. "If you might like to…." Sirius blushed again nervously.

"If I might like to what? Sirius what are you on about?" Regulus giggled quietly.

"If you'd like to you know, go to the room of requirement with me on Friday night or maybe if it's empty in here and like" Sirius stammered before taking a deep breath and gazing into his brothers eyes. "Let me make love to you"

Regulus' heart skipped a beat and his mouth fell open he was at a loss for words.

"I'll understand if you don't want to, that's fine but I'd really like for me to show you how much I love you" Sirius said quickly searching Regulus' face.

"I'd really like that" Regulus beamed, Sirius could feel a grin spreading across his face as Regulus pulled him into a passionate kiss.

They pulled apart panting quietly a few moments later.

"I love you, Sirius" Regulus smiled his brother threw the covers over them and pulled Regulus into his chest.

"I love you too, Reg, so very much" Sirius breathed gently running his fingers through Regulus' hair closing his eyes.

An adorable sight of two brothers and lovers lay curled in each others arms blissfully sleeping dreaming of the approaching weekend they would finally lose their virginities to one another….


	6. Big Brother Black

"Do you think we should wake them, it's getting a bit late?" Remus asked James as they stood fully dressed in their school robes in the dormitory staring over to where the red curtains were still drawn around Sirius' bed.

"Be kind of awkward…. You do it" James said giving Remus a shove in the direction of the bed.

Remus glared at his bespectacled friend for a moment before walking slowly over to the bed. Stopping in front of the curtain he reached a hand out and paused debating whether or not he should open it. Leaning closer he could still hear the faint sounds of their even slow breathing and rolled his eyes.

Taking a deep breath he parted the curtains and peeked inside. His eyebrows shot into his hairline when he saw Regulus lying still sleeping peacefully facing him, Sirius was pressed against his back curled up tightly against him with his arms wrapped around his brother's waist and his face buried in the back of his hair covered neck.

"James, come see this" Remus hissed and James came walking over quietly, peering through the curtain he smirked.

"Oi, you two, wake up!" he said loudly.

Regulus' eyes cracked open and he stared confusedly for a few moments before they came into focus and he was face to face with Remus and James. Letting out a yelp of surprise he woke Sirius in the process.

"What's happening, what's going on?" Sirius asked blinking himself awake.

"Aww don't you just look so cute, mummy's little Princes" James teased as Regulus lay staring up at him with the guiltiest expression on his face, Sirius didn't even look slightly alarmed by the situation.

"Shut up James" Sirius growled playfully.

"Why Padfoot, what are you going to do, cuddle me to death?" James and Remus chuckled.

"I always cuddle Reg" he yawned and Regulus relaxed slightly, they hadn't suspected anything.

"Yeah we know you do, we're only messing with you Pads" Remus laughed.

"What's the problem, why did you wake us?" Sirius asked with a slight frown.

"Well it's getting late and not only will you miss breakfast if we let you stay in much longer, you would be late for lessons" Remus replied as the two boys sat up.

"Moony, Moony, Moony, always worried about being late for lessons" Sirius shook his head tutting at his friend.

"I'm being serious! If you're late I'm not bailing you out" Remus replied as he and James swung back out of the curtain grabbed their things and headed for the door.

"See you guys down there" James called slamming the door behind them. Peter had already gone down for breakfast as he couldn't possibly wait another minute to eat, as usual.

"That was a close one" Regulus sighed rubbing his tired eyes as Sirius opened the curtains around his bed.

"Not really, they didn't suspect anything we're brothers and we always hug so ya know" Sirius shrugged pulling some of Regulus' things from his trunk and handing them over to him.

"Have you been stealing my things again?" Regulus chuckled as he began to change his clothes.

"Uhh…. Maybe?" Sirius grinned cheekily and Regulus playfully batted his arm.

"I can't help it, I love your smell" Sirius grinned grabbing Regulus around the waist and pulling him back against him.

"And I love yours, and your…. Taste" Regulus grinned making Sirius shudder.

"You kinky little bitch" Sirius teased kissing his brother on the cheek.

Ten minutes later they were washed and ready to go.

"Here put the cloak on so we can make an escape" Sirius said handing Regulus James' invisibility cloak which he had left sitting on top of his trunk for them to use.

"Okay" Regulus grinned taking the silvery material from Sirius' hand.

Sirius watched his brother throw the material around himself before opening the door and letting him through first. Carefully they made their way down through the common room and out of the portrait hole.

"Come on, this way" Sirius led Regulus back up to their hiding spot from the previous night and pulled the cloak off of him.

The second, Regulus' face came into view, Sirius lunged forward pressing their lips tightly together for about two minutes before he pulled back panting for air.

"Sirius we could have been seen!" Regulus gasped a smile still curling in the corners of his mouth.

"But isn't that what makes it so fun?" Sirius purred tracing Regulus' jaw line with his right index finger.

"Oh just shut up and kiss me again" Regulus grinned grabbing Sirius around the back of the neck and pulling him forward.

Five minutes later the pair of them ran down the staircases laughing hysterically almost knocking Professor McGonagall over in the process.

"Sorry Professor!" Sirius yelled back at her before she had a chance to say anything or stop him as they hurtled down the stairs and into the great hall skidding to a halt just inside the door. The room was still packed with students chatting and happily eating their breakfast.

"I'll see you later on, Reg, love you" Sirius said winking at his brother.

"Love you too" Regulus grinned before hurrying over to join his friends for breakfast.

The day was drifting by at a horribly slow pace. Professor Binn's lesson just seemed to drag on forever, even worse than usual as his slow monotone voice droned on for an hour and a half. Regulus took several notes but didn't manage to get very many feeling his mind wandering back to the previous evening.

Sirius had asked him if he wanted to have sex, actually have sex with him. No. Not have sex, make love. Regulus always knew there was a difference between the two, anyone could have sex they didn't have to even like each other very much but making love was different, it's what couples who truly loved each other did as a way of expressing their love to one another. Regulus felt a small smile creeping up onto his face. This weekend would be his turn at it, he was nervous about what it would feel like maybe he should ask Severus a bit more about it before then see if he could get some tips but being careful not to make Severus suspicious of his intentions.

At the end of the lesson it was lunch break, Regulus decided to go outside and enjoy the last few days of the decent weather before it turned bitter.

Heading down into the entrance hall he left through the courtyard towards the covered bridge and walked right across it. There were lots of other students in the grounds frolicking in the grass, sitting down by the lakeside or even in the distance talking to Hagrid down at his hut.

The sun was shining and the sky was clear, it was still pretty warm out being early September but the slight chill in the breeze told him that winter would soon be on its way.

Making his way over to the trees he dropped down in the shade his back pressed against the trunk and pulled out a book. Opening it he began flipping through the pages looking for something interesting to read when something caught his attention.

"Hey Regulus, over here" a voice called to him and he looked up, just up from him a little way at the side of the cliff were his friends all huddled together by the largest tree.

Slowly he closed the book and stuck it back in his bag. Getting to his feet he glanced around before following his friends beckoning voices.

"Why are you hiding in the trees?" Regulus asked as he approached them all standing grinning at him madly.

"We've got something for you" Avery said grinning he looked at Severus whose hands were behind his back.

"What is it?" Regulus raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Something wasn't right with the way they were acting and sneaking around in the trees in broad daylight together.

"Well…. Seeing as you missed out on our little fun on Saturday night, we thought it would be nice for you to have some of your own" Severus smirked, his hands still behind his back.

"I'm not sure I follow" Regulus asked starting to feel very worried.

The other four boys exchanged glances before Severus spoke again.

"I saved you some, thought you'd like to try it seeing as you couldn't make it with us" he grinned holding his hands out, in one was a rolled joint and the other a bottle filled with a few inches of liquid, corked to keep the smoke inside.

Regulus' eyes widened and he took a step back nervously.

"No thanks, I'm fine I've still got lessons this afternoon" he said quickly feeling panic rising in his chest.

"Come on, I've gone to lessons completely off my face before and nothing happened to me, just try a little bit" Severus nodded down at them and took a step closer to Regulus.

"No I-I'm alright" Regulus stammered nervously watching Severus uncork the bottle, rest his lips in the brim and inhale deeply through his mouth. The smoke slowly exhaled through his nose and he grinned at Regulus.

"See…. It's easy stuff" Mulciber pointed as Severus held the bottle out to Regulus who refused to take it.

"I don't want to" he said turning to walk away when Avery grabbed hold of him.

Icy fear gripped at his heart as Avery spun him around, he struggled and tried to break free.

"Calm down, we won't hurt you just try a bit and we'll let you go, we're your mates" Mulciber said as he and Evan edged a little closer.

"What part of no don't you understand?" Regulus squealed managing to wrench an arm loose.

"The whole thing" Evan stated bluntly watching as Mulciber took the joint and lit it with the tip of his wand.

Regulus stared wide eyed as his friends passed it around amongst them taking a small drag each and offering it to Regulus who yanked himself free.

"Help!" he called out frantically looking around for someone to help him.

"HELP ME!" he shrieked his eyes darting from the castle to the lakeside when his heart gave a leap of hope.

"SIRIUS, HELP ME!" Regulus screamed at the top of his voice as Avery tried to grab hold of him again pinning him against him Severus approached with the bottle.

"NOO! SIRIUS, HELP ME!" Regulus shrieked hysterically as Mulciber grabbed the bottle from Snape's hands and held onto Regulus' nose with the other he forced the bottle underneath his lips the smoke burning against his skin as he held his breath.

"Just breathe it in for fucks sake!" Mulciber snapped.

Down at the lake….

"I swear someone just called my name" Sirius said sitting up from where he was lying on his stomach by the water's edge and peering around him.

"I think you're imagining things, Padfoot" Peter shook his head gazing out across the water.

"No he's not I heard it too" Remus said sitting upright.

In The Trees….

Regulus thought he was going to die, he couldn't hold his breath for any longer and was struggling with all his might to get loose.

"Just BREATHE IT IN!" Mulciber snapped.

Regulus finally gave in, unable to breathe he took a massive gulp of air and smoke through his mouth it instantly rushed to his head and he felt extremely dizzy. It was a hot feeling a massive rush to his head and his vision blurred slightly with the second deep breath he relaxed.

Avery let go of him as he staggered back a little way. Mulciber jammed the bottle under his mouth again as Evan burst out into laughter when Regulus inhaled another deep breath.

He swung around dizzily staring over at the lake, everything seemed to be slowing down but he screamed out again.

"SIRIUS HELP!" he shrieked waving his arms around trying to hold his balance as he did so.

At the Lakeside….

"Someone is calling you" James sat up abruptly.

Sirius jumped to his feet and looked up towards the trees, he made out Regulus' figure in the distance being grabbed by someone that looked suspiciously like Avery and Mulciber forcing something in his hand towards his brothers face.

"Regulus!" Sirius yelled bolting full speed across the grounds stumbling a little at some loose rocks as he hurtled towards them.

James, Remus and Peter got to their feet and began to run after him.

In The Trees….

"Stoned yet?" Severus chuckled as they forced the joint into Regulus' mouth forcing him to puff on it a few times before they pulled it away.

Regulus' head was spinning when the bottle appeared under his mouth again he felt that familiar rushing sensation when a voice broke through to him.

"Regulus!" Sirius called out breathing heavily he skidded to a halt gazing around at the scene. Regulus hanging limply in Avery's arms whilst Severus was standing gaping at him with Evan laughing hysterically and Mulciber holding the joint and the bottle in his hands.

"What the fuck is happening?" Sirius demanded his body shaking with rage as Avery let go of Regulus who fell slumped to the floor.

"We were only having some fun" Mulciber replied.

Without even thinking, Sirius swung his arm around and punched Avery square in the face, pulling out his wand he cried out "Stupefy" stunning Severus who was knocked back a few feet.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, mate?" Evan yelled pulling out his own wand along with Mulciber and Avery.

"Sirius, what's happening?" James called as they stopped a few feet behind him gasping for breath. Noticing the three wands pointed at Sirius the Marauders quickly drew their own.

"These little shits were forcing Reg to take drugs" Sirius spoke his eyes dropping to his brother and he fell to his knees ignoring the three wands pointed directly at him he crawled over to him.

"I'm a Prefect, I could have you all expelled for this!" Remus said proudly flashing his silver prefects badge and pointing his wand dangerously at Mulciber's chest.

Mulciber swallowed.

"Forget this" he shouted grabbing hold of Evan he began to belt down the grounds, Avery following after them as Severus jumped to his feet and bolted along behind.

"Flipendo!" James called aiming at them but it missed Evan's legs by mere inches.

"Fuck it, we're going after them" Remus shouted. "Are you going to be alright staying with him?" he turned quickly to Sirius.

"Yes I'll be fine, James, leave me the cloak so I can get him up to the dorm" Sirius said quickly.

James reached into his back, pulled out the cloak and threw it onto the grass before nodding at his friend and all of them set off at a run after the four Slytherin's who were running back towards the castle.

Sirius watched them go before turning his attention back to his little brother who was lying dazed in the grass.

"Regulus?" Sirius spoke softly as he gazed up into his brother's face feeling extremely dizzy and lightheaded as though he could just rise up into the air as if he had the power to do anything in the world.

"Sirius?" Regulus replied with a toothy grin.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked helping his brother sit up.

Regulus took some deep breaths and got slowly and very shakily to his feet, he felt very strange, very bright and light but at the same time he felt like he was going to pass out.

"Come on, let's get you back to the dormitory" Sirius said, picking up the cloak he tucked it in his bag and slung his arm around his brothers waist to support him as they slowly walked back to the castle.

Regulus was looking very pale, his eyes were bloodshot and he was dazed and looked absolutely blitzed. Anger burned inside of Sirius, how could those filthy little Slytherin's do something like this to their so called friend, especially Regulus, innocent little Regulus.

He gritted his teeth as they walked through the entrance hall, Regulus was swaying slightly and Sirius dragged him behind a statue to throw the cloak over him so nobody could see what state he was in.

It wasn't long before they snuck through the portrait hole with a great amount of difficulty and made their way up into the dormitory. As soon as they were inside Sirius pulled the cloak off of his brother tossing it onto James' bed he guided Regulus over to his own bed.

"You need to lie down" Sirius said calmly helping his brother onto the bed he watched as Regulus kicked off his shoes almost falling over in the process and pulled off his tie throwing it to the floor. Sirius helped him out of his cloak and school jumper before laying him down on his side.

"Sirius…." Regulus groaned his vision still blurring. He felt strange, very strange, like he was indestructible but at the same time like he was going to fall into the depths of nothing. Whatever it was they had given him it was clearly way too much for a first timer.

"Don't worry Reg, I'm here" Sirius smiled kissing him on his forehead as he knelt by the side of the bed in front of his brother's face.

"Don't go anywhere I don't feel very good" Regulus slurred blinking several times at his brother shaking slightly.

"I'm not, I promise you just need to relax and come down slowly" Sirius spoke in a gentle voice.

"Feel sick…." Regulus groaned clutching at his stomach and feeling even dizzier.

Sirius' eyes widened and he reached under his bed pulling out the plastic basin he had used himself once when he had accidentally eaten a few too many puking pastels.

"You can be sick in here if you need to just try to stay calm, you're safe here" Sirius smiled running his fingers through his brother's silky hair.

Regulus sat himself up slowly propping himself up against the headboard of the bed.

Sirius placed the bowl on his lap and moved around to the other side of the bed climbing on next to his brother and gently wrapped an arm around his slim waist watching him breathe heavily for a few moments and then vomit violently into the basin.

"It's alright, Reg get it all up" Sirius spoke gently into his brothers ear rubbing his back for him as he heaved again.

"I feel like shit…." Regulus groaned as Sirius handed him a tissue to wipe his mouth on.

"You'll be fine, baby you have me to look after you" Sirius smiled kissing him on the cheek.

"Like a sexy nurse?" Regulus smirked closing his eyes.

"Yes like a sexy- HEY!" Sirius laughed as the door opened and the others came back in pink in the face from running.

Closing the door behind them they went straight over to Sirius' bed.

"Are you alright, Regulus?" Remus asked quietly as the boy cracked his eyes open to stare at the werewolf.

"I feel like utter crap" he grumbled.

"He keeps being sick and he's really dizzy" Sirius nodded to the basin with Regulus' vomit swilling around the bottom of it.

"Oh nice" James grimaced looking away.

"I think I might have something for that" said Remus walking over to his trunk he rummaged around in it for a few moments before pulling out a small vial and handing it to Regulus.

"I used to take it whenever I threw up, it works" he smiled as Regulus took the top off and downed it quickly.

"Thank you" he smiled weakly.

"You see, not all Slytherin's are rude and horrible" Sirius said mainly to James and Peter.

"Regulus you have proved us wrong, not all Slytherin's are disgusting and nasty" James chuckled and Regulus smiled a little at his comment.

"I think…." Regulus said before launching himself forward and vomiting into the basin making the others cringe and take a few steps back turning their heads away as he coughed and spluttered the rest of it up.

"Just you wait until I get my hands on them, I can't believe they did that" Sirius growled angrily rubbing on Regulus' back.

"What was it they gave you anyway?" Peter asked moving to go and sit on his own bed.

Regulus shook his head. "Some kind of potion, there wasn't much in the bottle but it was letting off these really strong fumes and a joint" Regulus replied feeling himself slowly starting to come down, he felt terrible.

"They forced you to take it?" James asked dropping down onto his own bed. Remus moved at sat on his own bed which was right next to Sirius'.

"Yeah, I told them I didn't want to because they were doing it on…. Saturday night I think it was" Regulus said frowning slightly as he put the basin down at the side of the bed and lay on his side facing Remus.

"You need to tell Remus, he's a Prefect he can get them into serious trouble" Sirius said calmly stroking his brother's hair.

Regulus remained quiet for a moment partly because he was feeling so bad and partly because he was unsure whether or not to give the full details to Lupin.

"Yeah, it must have been Saturday night because it was the same night Avery fucked Severus…." He slurred a little closing his eyes and relaxing into the bed.

The room fell very awkwardly silent. James went to laugh but Sirius glared at him and shook his head as if to say 'not now'.

"They asked me if I wanted to take some but I said I didn't so Avery grabbed hold of me" Regulus said thoughtfully. "Mulciber forced the bottle under my mouth and held my nose so eventually I had to breathe it in through my mouth and felt a really bad rush to my head" Regulus spoke again.

"I tried to get free several times but I couldn't because Avery was stronger, I was screaming for help and they forced the joint in my mouth and made me take some of that too" he continued speaking very slowly still feeling high.

"Then Sirius came?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, Sirius came and Avery dropped me, I felt so dizzy and I felt completely out of it so I just fell to the ground" Regulus replied he could feel himself drifting off slightly as he spoke.

"They must have given you an awful lot" James frowned slightly and Regulus nodded.

Later on, James, Remus and Peter came back from dinner bringing Sirius and Regulus some food with them. Leaving it on their bedside tables they sat on their own beds.

Regulus had come down a few hours ago and was now sleeping peacefully nestled against Sirius' chest. He hadn't been sick since Remus had given him the potion to drink.

"None of them were down at dinner" James informed Sirius quickly.

"I'm not surprised, they're probably hiding down in the dungeons scared shitless wondering when Dumbledore will come after them" Sirius replied.

"We haven't told Dumbledore yet" Peter blinked butting in on the conversation.

"I know but they seem to think we have and they will be shitting it until they actually do get in trouble for it" James replied.

The murmur of voices made Regulus stir. His eyes fluttered open behind heavy dark lashes and he gazed into Sirius' shirt clad chest.

"Sirius?" he asked quietly as his brothers eyes shot down.

"Hi, Reg, how are you feeling?" he smiled brushing some of Regulus' dark hair from his face as the younger boy pulled himself up a bit higher on the bed.

"A little better, still feeling rough though" Regulus groaned stretching out his loins like a cat.

"You'll be alright by tomorrow don't worry about it" Sirius smiled. "By the way, you're staying up here until I decide it's safe for you to go back into Slytherin" he added.

"Serious?" Regulus asked gazing into his brothers eyes.

"Reg what have I told you before? My name is Sirius, not serious" he joked making Regulus stick his tongue out at him like a child.

That night when they were both changed and lying in bed with the curtains pulled around them Sirius grinned pulling Regulus into a passionate kiss.

"Are we still on for Friday?" he purred into Regulus' ear, a knee planted on each side of Regulus' hips as he leaned and began to neck his brother.

"Of course we are" Regulus grinned enjoying the feeling of Sirius' lips against his warm skin.

"Good because I really do love you, you know" Sirius smiled drawing back to gaze into Regulus' misty grey eyes.

"And I love you too, thank you for helping me today" Regulus smiled draping his arms around Sirius' neck.

The next morning they were up and dressed earlier than the previous day. Sneaking down and out of the common room they had a quick make out session in their hiding spot before hurrying down to breakfast.

"You're sitting with us" Sirius said flatly grabbing hold of Regulus by the arm before he could protest and dragging him over to the Gryffindor table.

A large burly sixth year looked up from his plate of sausages to glare and looked as if he was about to say something when Sirius turned to stare full on at him and he seemingly changed his mind returning to his breakfast.

"Don't look so worried, nobody will say anything to you with us here" James chuckled looking at the worried expression on Regulus' face. He was surrounded by what was supposed to be the enemy and sitting in their territory.

Once they had finished eating they headed out into the main entrance together laughing, even Regulus was surprisingly finding Sirius' friends to be quite amusing when he had always thought before that they were a menace.

"Well, well, well guys look who it is" Sirius pointed to the group of Slytherin's handing around by the statue glaring at the first year students that dared to walk past.

"Are those the guys that attacked you?" Remus asked.

Regulus nodded quickly as Sirius nudged James in the side and they began striding towards them.

"No, Sirius!" Regulus grabbed him by the arm trying to stop him.

"I'm paying him back for what he did to you, don't worry they won't do anything with us here" Sirius smiled as they continued to walk towards them.

"Alright, boys?" Sirius said grinning maliciously at them as they drew close enough.

"What do you want, Black?" Dylan asked straightening himself up and glaring Sirius up and down.

"I want to know what your problem is with my little brother" Sirius said bluntly attracting the attention of some of the passers-by.

"He's a pathetic little faggot just like you, I warned him if he told you or anyone else I'd come back and get him twice as hard" Dylan chuckled as his friends stood close behind smirking amongst themselves.

"Yeah and then he goes running both to big brother Black and Dumbledore" Logan laughed nastily at them.

"So who's it going to be first then, Sirius or Regulus?" Dylan cracked his rather large knuckles as Sirius' hand discreetly slipped into his pocket and clutched his wand.

"Oh I don't know…. How about…. You're underpants!" Sirius ripped his wand from his robes in less than a second and a bright flash of light later, Dylan's robes were hanging over his head revealing his grubby green briefs off to the entire entrance hall who roared with laughter.

Dolohov pulled his wand out but Regulus was too fast for him.

"Expelliarmus!" he called and the wand shot away hitting a wall far behind them before rolling into the dungeon corridor.

"Put me down!" Dylan roared as James and Remus disarmed his other two friends.

"Say please" Sirius said loudly.

Dylan let out a scream of rage.

"Sorry mate, we don't speak troll" James laughed leaning against Sirius' right shoulder.

"You'll put me down right this fucking instant!" Dylan yelled struggling but unable to break himself free.

"You have to say the magic word" Sirius grinned twirling his wand so Dylan began to rotate around in a circle like a large piece of meat hanging from the ceiling.

Dylan continued to struggle for a few more seconds before Sirius decided to spin him faster.

"Alright, please!" he shouted. "Now let me go!"

"Certainly" Sirius flicked his wand and Dylan fell to the floor in a crumpled mess.

"Now, apologise to Reg you great ugly brute" James demanded pointing his own wand at Dylan.

"I'm not apologising to him" Dylan spat.

"Alright then" James laughed "Colovaria" he said clearly and with a flick of his wand, Dylan's hair changed from its usual shade of red to bright green and hanging around his elbows in length.

More laughter roared out from the watching crowd.

"My hair! You dick, change it back!" Dylan bellowed as his friends began searching for their wands. Logan spotted his a few feet away and made a dive for it.

"Oh no you don't, Petrificus Totalus!" Sirius said aiming his wand at the boy who keeled over rigid unable to pick up his wand.

"Fucking apologise to my brother" Sirius snarled pointing his wand dangerously close to Dylan's nose, a few angry red sparks shooting out of it.

"Sorry" he grumbled glaring at Regulus.

"Didn't quite catch that, do it properly" Sirius hissed, more angry sparks shooting out of his wand and burning Dylan's nose slightly in the process.

"I said I'm sorry" Dylan spoke as calmly as possible staring at Regulus hoping that Sirius wasn't about to blast his nose off.

"Good…. Now, kiss his feet and be gone" Sirius grinned nastily his eyes dancing excitedly at the look of horror washing over the Slytherin's face.

"You've got to be kidding me" Dylan rolled his eyes.

"DO IT!" Sirius shouted making him jump slightly with fright.

Leaning down he moved towards Regulus and pressed his lips to each of Regulus' shoes muttering his apology before standing up straight.

"No fuck off" Sirius shouted watching Dylan back away quickly, his friends seeming to forget their wands hurried after him, his bright green hair streaming along behind him as he disappeared out of sight.

James muttered the counter curse at Logan who sprang to his feet running off down the dungeon corridor after his friends.

The Marauders and Regulus stood laughing and hi-fiving each other when Sirius turned to Regulus grinning madly.

"That was fucking hilarious!" Regulus grinned feeling much better about the incident that happened the other day.

"Thank you Reg, I just wanted to make sure I paid those guys back for what they did to my little brother" he grinned.

"They got what they deserved, anyway if we don't get going we're gonna be late and end up in detention…. Again" James said checking the time on his pocket watch.

"Alright, I'll come and meet you at lunchtime outside your classroom just to be on the safe side, alright?" Sirius smiled and Regulus nodded eagerly.

Leaning down he pressed his lips to Regulus' forehead.

"See you later" he waved.

"Bye!" Regulus called after him as his brother disappeared up the flights of stairs.

Sighing to himself with happiness he strolled off to lessons. Who knew his brother could be so creatively funny, although Regulus didn't really agree with making a show of people publically he did admit that they deserved what they got and it wouldn't do them any harm to be taken down a few pegs.

With the thoughts of the approaching weekend on his mind, Regulus walked into class….


	7. Sweet Romance

By the time Thursday evening came around, Regulus was feeling a little nervous. He still hadn't been back into the Slytherin common room or spoken to his so called friends who were skulking around keeping well out of the way looking extremely guilty.

He sat cross legged on Sirius' bed next to his brother and they were all in deep conversation with his friends.

"Regulus?" James asked curiously folding his hands behind his head and lounging across his bed.

"Yes?" the younger boy replied.

"The other day you said something that got me thinking…." James began frowning slightly as he stared over at the Slytherin.

"What's that?" Regulus asked confusedly trying to remember what it might have been.

"When you came back here and when Remus questioned you about what happened with your friends, you said something that almost slipped my notice" he continued.

Regulus blinked.

"It might have been drug induced confusion but you openly stated that Avery had Fucked Snape" James continued to stare at the smaller boy as a light clicked on in his head.

"Oh yeah, they had sex last Saturday night" Regulus replied feeling Sirius flop back against the pillows laughing along with the rest of his friends.

"You're joking with us right?" Peter laughed.

"No of course not, they're a couple, did you not know that?" he looked around at each of the boys in the room shaking their heads.

"They've been hugging, flirting and sometimes kissing each other publically, the other day when I was coming out of potions I saw Avery pinning Severus to the wall sticking his tongue down his throat and Slughorn came out of the classroom and dropped all of his things with shock" Regulus chuckled slightly.

"Oh dear, that's news to us" James laughed wiping a tear from his face.

"Anything else you think you should tell them about your slippery little Slytherin pals?" Sirius smirked rolling onto his stomach as Regulus turned over onto his to lie beside him.

"Well, last week they had me play a game of truth or dare with them and Avery had robbed some Veritaserum from Slughorn, Evan's slept with five guys and two girls, Severus had never kissed anyone which we got out of him in a truth and then made him tongue Avery for two minutes, turns out they had liked each other since like second year so they ended up getting together" Regulus replied thoughtfully. "Oh and that Severus gets stoned so on Saturday he took the others with him, he had asked me to go but I said no and the next morning was when I found out they'd done it, turns out they had sex twice in the same night and they were both virgins!"

"That's bloody hilarious…. And nauseating" James roared with laughter.

"You can't say that I told you, blame Evan or something" Regulus said quickly.

"Don't worry, we won't say it was you" Peter giggled.

"Anything else you think you should share?" Remus asked raising an eyebrow slightly. Normally he wasn't one to join in on things like this but curiosity got the better of him and he had to learn more.

"Uhh Evan made out with Lucius Malfoy the day he left Hogwarts" Regulus continued making everyone in the room shriek with laughter once again.

"Never realised there was so much fun to be had down in Slytherin" James chuckled.

"Fancy going to bed?" Sirius yawned sliding down under the bed covers with Regulus still lying on top of them.

"Sure, I am pretty tired" he nodded climbing in next to his brother.

"Night guys" Sirius called and they all let out a resounding 'goodnight' before the curtains closed around the bed.

Regulus immediately turned and snuggled into Sirius sighing happily.

"Looking forward to tomorrow night?" Sirius grinned pulling his brother into his arms in a warm embrace.

"Of course, a little nervous but excited" Regulus nodded. "You?"

"Very much so" Sirius smiled.

The next day dragged by unbearably slowly, Regulus became more nervous and excited as the day went on and when it came to dinner time he could barely contain his excitement.

"You alright, Reg?" Sirius asked shooting him a knowing look.

Regulus nodded quickly as James cleared his throat.

"We won't really be able to work on the map tonight guys, Peter and I have detention with Filch until god knows what time" he sighed shoving his food around his plate with his fork.

"What for?" Sirius asked casually as he reached under the table and gave Regulus' thigh a little squeeze.

"Apparently someone let off a bunch of Filibuster fireworks in the boys toilets on the fourth floor and Filch reckons for some unknown reason that it was us when we were supposed to be in lesson, either way it blew half the toilet apart" James replied with a smirk.

"Well that's because you did have a whole box full of fireworks the other day and you just so happened to be planning on letting them off in the boy's toilets" Remus replied.

"Yeah but oh well he wouldn't listen and threatened detention or disembowelment" James half shrugged.

"Fair enough, and I'm on patrol this evening until two" Remus sighed. Although he liked being a prefect, Remus Lupin also liked to be in bed by midnight and sleep in until late.

Regulus' heart gave a small leap in his chest that meant they had the dormitory to themselves and wouldn't have to sneak off to the room of requirement and possibly run into Lupin himself on the way.

"Oh well we're just gonna stay in the dormitory and hang out like" Sirius shrugged and the others nodded.

"Wish we could do that…." Remus sighed and Regulus almost choked on his food.

After dinner they saw James, Peter and Remus off in the entrance hall as they parted ways and the two brothers headed up towards the Gryffindor tower.

Regulus started to feel nervous as they passed the portrait of the fat lady who kept fluttering her eyelashes every time she saw Sirius. They rounded the corner and hid against the wall.

"Here" Sirius smiled chucking the cloak over him and guiding him back along the corridor a few minutes later towards the fat lady.

"Mumbulus Mimbletonia" Sirius said winking at the plump woman who swung forward before he had even finished the password. Regulus hopped through the portrait hole and felt Sirius' hand on his hip in the packed common room.

"Come on" he whispered guiding an invisible Regulus towards the dormitory stairs. They stopped outside the room.

"Wait here a second, don't take the cloak off" Sirius smiled to seemingly thin air and Regulus nodded, although he could not be seen.

Regulus watched as Sirius slipped into the dormitory and he waited, and waited. It was moments later that Sirius appeared at the door holding it open barely a crack.

"Take off the cloak and close your eyes" he said in a low voice. Regulus obliged and pulled the cloak off shutting his eyes tightly he felt Sirius' hand gently pull him forward into the room shutting the door behind them.

"Defigo" Sirius said pointing his wand at the door and it locked abruptly. Stuffing his wand into his pocket he threw the invisibility cloak onto James' bed before guiding a blinded Regulus forward very slowly holding both of his hands.

They stopped and Sirius smirked walking to stand behind Regulus, wrapping his arms around the smaller boys waist and bringing his lips to his ear.

"Open your eyes" he murmured and Regulus' eyes fluttered open.

He gasped.

Sirius' bed was made incredibly neatly, all of his white sheeted pillows had been over fluffed, the red bed spread was clean and fresh and had been scattered with what appeared to be rose petals but they had been enchanted to sparkle. The drapes had been hung looser around the bed making it appear even more alluring and there were dozens of floating candles hovering around the bed apart from them the room was in complete darkness. The rose petals were sparkling merrily in the soft romantic light.

"Sirius it's gorgeous…." Regulus breathed feeling his brother smirking against his neck.

"I'm glad you like it, but it's still not as gorgeous as you" Sirius breathed as Regulus turned around.

Leaning in, Regulus draped his arms around his brother's neck and brought their lips together in a warm tender kiss. Sirius' arms snaked their way around Regulus further resting in the small of his back he pulled the boy up against him, one hand making its way up into the younger boy's long ebony locks.

Regulus let out of a soft moan against his brother's lips as their mouths parted slightly as they continued to kiss in slow loving motions.

Sirius' hands slowly unclasped the front of his cloak allowing it to fall smoothly to the floor around their feet along with Regulus' tie. Regulus' hands followed slowly removing Sirius' cloak and tie before heading for his jumper. They broke the kiss as the boy's pulled each other's school jumpers over their heads and threw them to the side.

Leaning back in, Sirius' tongue traced along Regulus' bottom lip begging for entrance, a small gasp escaped Regulus' warm mouth and Sirius' tongue slipped inside, gently flicking along the end of Regulus' own. He drew back a little so their mouths were slightly apart and continued to gently flick his tongue against Regulus' making the boy moan quietly before cupping his face gently in one hand and sliding his tongue fully into Regulus' mouth again.

Sirius groaned, his hands moving again and very slowly undoing each of the buttons on Regulus' school shirt exposing his supple ivory skin. He gently pushed the shirt back as it fell from Regulus' small shoulders falling to the ground along with the other garments. His fingers began a trail from Regulus' sensitive exposed neck along down ever so slightly touching his skin bumping over his sharp collar bone and down to a nipple gently probing at it with his fingers teasing it feeling the boy shudder slightly under his gently touch.

"Regulus…." Sirius moaned softly as his brother unbuttoned his shirt teasingly slowly and pulling it from his body throwing it to the side, his hands went straight for his brother's sides thoroughly exploring his brother's slender torso stopping to tweak at his small pink nipples.

Breaking the kiss, Sirius went straight for Regulus' neck, his lips coming to rest at the pulse point as he began to suckle on it making his brother groan and entangle his fingers in his hair.

He gently sank his pearly white teeth in and leaned back to smirk and admire the angry red mark left in his wake before he slowly planted sweet kisses down the smaller boy's neck, nipping gently at his collar bone he continued down towards his oh so sensitive nipple.

Regulus gasped loudly as Sirius' tongue swirled around the areola of his nipple before he nipped lightly on the rosy pink nipple until it stood on end. Moving across his brother's chest in short kisses he did the same to the other one.

Regulus and Sirius kicked off their shoes as Sirius pressed his lips firmly to Regulus', their tongues instantly becoming trapped in a battle for dominance over Sirius' mouth.

"Oh God, Sirius" Regulus moaned as his brothers hands made their way down his body stopping to un-pop the top button on his trousers and teasingly slowly drag his zip down tooth by tooth.

Sirius slowly shifted the fabric over his small hips hearing them slump to the ground around his ankles. Regulus quickly stepped out of them and reached for Sirius' trousers. Slowly he opened them and glanced down as they dropped to the floor. Sirius kicked them away before grabbing Regulus by the hips and guiding him towards the bed.

He carefully pushed his brother down onto the petal clad bed so he was lying against the comfortable fluffed pillows before Sirius moved onto the bed gazing into his brother's misty grey eyes and spread his legs. Crawling in between them he lay across his brother feeling the warmth of his body radiating against his skin. He captured Regulus' kiss swollen lips in his own and brushed their cloth encased throbbing members together making them both hiss with pleasure.

Instead of moving in to deepen the kiss, Sirius drew Regulus' lower lip into his mouth sucking on it lightly before nipping carefully on it earning a soft gasp from his brother.

Pulling back slightly, Regulus smiled before pressing his lips to Sirius' in a feather light kiss inhaling through his mouth a little drawing some of Sirius' air into his own. Sirius moaned as Regulus did it again and bucked his hips into Regulus' their members rubbing together.

Sirius drew back, propping himself up in his knees his fingers tucked into the waistband of his brothers underwear which were the smallest tightest pair he had seen. He chuckled slightly gazing into Regulus' flushed face.

"I thought they were sexy, I only wore them because I thought you'd like them" he blushed but thankfully it wasn't so noticeable in the soft romantic glow of the candles.

"They are very sexy, but I think they would be much sexier on the floor" Sirius grinned before pulling them down and off in one swift movement leaving Regulus lying fully exposed in front of him.

Sirius bit his bottom lip as he gazed lovingly down at his younger brother lying sprawled across the bed, his legs parted, his face flushed with arousal and his erection throbbing, one hand draped against the pillows above his head.

"Reg you're bloody gorgeous" Sirius breathed leaning in to press his lips to Regulus' again in a hot passionate kiss.

"So are you" Regulus breathed his hands trailing down his brothers body to his loose boxer shorts and pulling them down far enough for Sirius to rid them himself with a good kick.

Breaking the kiss, Sirius' lips began to press soft sweet kisses along his brother's jawline and slowly down his neck stopping to flick his tongue across the love mark before continuing his journey down.

"Sirius…." Regulus moaned as his brothers soft lips trailed kisses down his navel, moving lower still past the sprinkling of dark hair around his member. Moving lower still he pushed Regulus' legs up so his feet were pressed flat against the sheets and planted small kisses on the insides of his thighs earning more moans of delight from the pretty boy above.

Sirius followed the line and gently nuzzled his brother's balls kissing them before moving up and trailing his tongue lightly up the shaft of his lover's penis.

Regulus moaned loudly as Sirius' tongue moved up swirling around the leaking tip he gently pressed his lips to it before teasing the skin back and forth slightly between his thumb and index finger.

He let his spare hand roam up to press just behind the boy's balls and rub against the space behind them earning a sharp intake of breath and a deep throaty moan. Sirius smirked.

"You like me touching you there do you?" he chuckled slightly as Regulus gazed at him his eyes wide and full of lust.

Pressing his fingers slightly harder against it, Sirius began to massage it making Regulus moan continually closing his eyes he began to pant.

Sirius moved back making Regulus stare at him a frown of disappointment on his face but was soon relaxed when Sirius leaned up to kiss him. Regulus heard Sirius' hand pull the top drawer of the bedside table open and lift something out shutting it again.

Sirius pulled back propping himself back up on his knees he showed Regulus the sealed bottle of lubricant. Regulus watched him unwrap it and pop the lid open squeezing a fair amount over his fingers he smiled at his lover.

Sirius replaced the cap and laid the bottle next to Regulus he moved up and pressed his lips to the boy's mouth before gently running his fingers over his small puckered entrance. To his surprise Regulus moaned, loudly.

"That feels really good" Regulus whispered against Sirius' hungry mouth without breaking the kiss. He moaned again as Sirius' fingers added a small amount of pressure teasing him further and stroking at him.

Regulus gasped and tensed a little as Sirius' finger pushed itself inside halfway. Sirius waited until he felt Regulus' hot insides relax before sliding back and pushing in again going a little deeper. He continued to gently slide his finger back and forth before slipping a second lube coated finger inside. This time, Regulus moaned.

"Is it alright, it's not hurting you is it?" Sirius breathed smiling into his brother's eyes.

"It's really nice, more" Regulus replied impatiently wiggling his hips slightly. Sirius smirked and a third finger joined them pushing in all the way making Regulus gasp. Sirius' fingers slid back and forward again picking up a little pace before he finally withdrew them all.

He quickly kissed Regulus on the lips before he picked up the bottle, took the cap off and squeezed a large amount onto his already coated fingers then massaged the lot around the boy's tight entrance. Leaning back slightly he coated his own throbbing member thickly in it. Replacing the cap he dropped the bottle back onto the sheets and smiled warmly at his brother.

"Are you ready?" he asked in a low husky voice and Regulus nodded with a warm smile on his lips.

Sirius carefully slid between Regulus' parted legs pushing them further apart he pressed his member to the boy's tight entrance and positioned himself on top of him their lips barely touching.

"Kiss me" Regulus whispered.

Sirius leaned forward pressing his lips tenderly against Regulus' he pushed the tip of his member inside.

Regulus let out a small squeak, arching his back he tensed around the sudden intrusion.

"Tell me when you want me to go deeper, if you want me to stop then just say so and I will" Sirius breathed against his brothers lips.

"Don't stop, just please be gentle with me I don't like it when people are rough with me" Regulus replied slowly relaxing around Sirius' member.

"Don't worry I'll be careful" Sirius smiled resting a hand on either side of Regulus' head admiring the way his inky black hair splayed across the snow white pillows.

He slowly pushed himself a little deeper Regulus tensed a little again but soon relaxed as he began to gently thrust himself inside biting his bottom lip to hold back a moan.

"Sirius…. Please…." Regulus whined draping his arms around his brother's neck.

"Stop?" Sirius panted slightly from the excitement.

"No…. fuck me….." Regulus gasped.

Sirius grinned and began to thrust himself carefully inside his brother probing a little deeper with each stroke so he was about three quarters of the way in. Regulus let out a quiet moan relaxing against the feeling as Sirius started thrusting a little harder.

With one sharp thrust pushing himself fully inside, Regulus cried out loudly his face contorted with pleasure.

"Oh fucking hell…. Do that again!" he moaned shaking slightly as Sirius thrust into him again hitting that sensitive bundle of nerves making his brother moan again.

Sirius picked up his pace a little moaning loudly with each thrust into the impossibly tight hole. Regulus lifted his legs up his hands moving to hold himself behind the knees giving Sirius better access into his depths.

"Regulus…." Sirius moaned thrusting himself harder into his brother picking up his pace.

"It feels so good, come on, harder" Regulus groaned biting his bottom lip, his brows knitted together from the pleasure.

"As you wish" Sirius gasped slamming himself into his brother time and time again until he could feel his climax beginning to build. Propping himself up he reached down with one hand and curled his fingers around the shaft of Regulus' aching lonely member but was batted away by his hands which he wrapped around his own member and began to stroke himself roughly in time with Sirius' movements.

"Oh god Reg…." Sirius moaned loudly, looking down at his brother's arousal flushed face, his eyes clenched shut, one hand furiously stroking his leaking member and the other gripping the bed sheets tightly in his fist was all Sirius could take.

"I'm cumming" he moaned slamming himself into Regulus, one, two three more times before burying himself balls deep inside "Regulus!" he cried and ejaculating roughly deep inside him.

"Sirius!" Regulus practically shrieked as he exploded between them feeling himself full to the brim inside. Everything went black for a while and when he opened his eyes Sirius was staring down at him confusedly.

"W-what happened?" Sirius asked still gasping for breath.

"I think I might have blacked out for a few seconds there" Regulus flushed a little panting heavily.

"You, didn't like it?" Sirius looked a little disappointed.

"Wrong! I fucking LOVED it" Regulus chuckled feeling incredibly dazed but happy and Sirius burst out laughing.

Sirius collapsed on top of Regulus panting heavily for a moment or two before lifting his face up and softly kissing his brother on the lips.

Carefully he withdrew himself and rolled over to lie next to Regulus dragging him under the warm bed covers.

"That was fucking amazing…." Regulus whispered his breathing slowly returning to normal.

"I know, you just felt so wonderful" Sirius grinned then reached over the side of the bed stuffing the clothes he could reach under the bed and grabbing his wand. He pointed it to the door and it unclicked.

"Better unlock it so the others can come in later" he said and Regulus nodded as he placed the wand on the table reached for the curtain pulls and tugged it so the curtains closed around them. The candles were still burning softly on the inside of the curtains and Regulus relaxed as Sirius pulled him into his arms.

"I love you so fucking much" Regulus whispered kissing Sirius on the lips.

"I love you too, Reg" Sirius smiled nuzzling his brother's long fluffy hair.

"I would love to do it again sometime soon" Regulus smiled.

"Me too" Sirius replied.

It was a few hours before James and Peter came strolling in smug looks on their faces as they climbed lazily into bed.

Another hour or so went by and Remus finally trudged in. The minute he opened the door a strange smell wafted through his nostrils and he stopped. Closing the door he inhaled deeply and blinked around the dark room. Shrugging he got into bed and drifted off to sleep.

It wasn't until the next morning when Peter had gone with James to his Quidditch practice and Remus had chosen to stay behind sitting on his bed waiting for their footsteps to die away. He really just wanted to get his Astronomy homework over and done with, it was a subject he liked all in all but one that almost made him feel extremely uncomfortable sometimes. Picking up his note book he sighed. He'd left his text book in the classroom again, but Remus being Remus had thankfully scrawled his name into it so nobody would steal it. Rolling his eyes he got up from the bed and made his way over to Sirius'.

"Sirius, can I borrow your Astronomy text book?" he asked through the curtains.

No answer.

"Sirius, are you still asleep?" he asked more insistently.

No reply.

Sighing, Remus poked his head through the curtains and his eyebrows shot to his hairline. Sirius and Regulus were laying the bed sheets fallen to their hips and appeared to be completely naked beneath them.

"Sirius!" Remus called and both boys' eyes snapped open.

Sirius blinked up at Remus whereas Regulus looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Morning Moony!" Sirius grinned, his arms still draped around his brother.

"Are, are you two naked?" Remus stared at them blankly.

"Umm, yes?" Sirius replied and Regulus turned an awful shade of brick red.

"Why?" Remus shook his head slightly in confusion.

"It was too hot, we're both boys and we're brothers it's not like we haven't seen each other naked before" Sirius yawned hugging Regulus again and closing his eyes.

"But you're naked in bed together…." Remus stated.

"Yes we are, don't act so surprised Moony, you've slept naked plenty of times" Sirius replied and Regulus felt himself relax again.

Remus blushed furiously trying to search for something to say.

"Can I borrow your Astronomy text book?" he said quickly.

"Course, it's in my bag you don't need to ask me, just use it" Sirius replied.

"Thanks" Remus said pulling out of the curtains and heading for Sirius' bag. "Hey listen, I'm off to the library if you need me, I'll see you later" he called stuffing the book and his things into his own bag and leaving the dormitory.

"Bye" Sirius called as the door shut tightly behind him.

A few moments later the sound of footsteps on the stairs had died away and Sirius immediately rolled on top of Regulus surprising him a little.

"Sirius what are you doing?" he blushed as he brother lay himself comfortably on top of him and began kissing his neck.

"I can't help it, you're so sexy" he growled.

"Remus almost caught us" Regulus whined.

Sirius sat up staring into his brothers eyes for a few moments before a grin spread across his face.

His fingers trailed down his brother's body as he buried his face in his neck continuing to kiss it and he began to tickle Regulus. The smaller boy started shrieking with laughter trying to kick his legs and shove Sirius off but couldn't muster the strength to remove his brother as he felt tears streaming down his face with laughter.

"Sirius…. SIRIUS…. Please…." He whimpered trying to wiggle himself free.

"What's the matter, Reg?" Sirius grinned into his brother's ear as the boy continued to laugh hysterically thrashing as best he could underneath him but to no avail.

"Stop it, you're tickling me!" Regulus cried.

"Aw but I think it's cute" Sirius teased tickling him further and sinking his teeth into Regulus' neck.

"It's not cute!" Regulus laughed fighting against his captor. "It's fucking torture!" he shrieked.

"Do you reckon it's worse than the Cruciatus curse?" Sirius chuckled tickling his brother further.

"Oh fuck yes! Way worse!" Regulus cried.

"Beg for me to stop" Sirius teased tickling his brother further.

"Never!" Regulus whimpered still struggling and fighting and kicking.

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep going then!" Sirius said sounding absolutely delighted as he continued to torture his brother as the younger boy started practically screaming and thrashing around.

"Oh Sirius!" he laughed still trying to break free.

"Go on, beg" Sirius' voice was muffled against his brother's supple neck.

"Sirius…. Please!" Regulus whimpered. "Please stop Sirius!" he shrieked tears still streaming down his face with laughter.

Sirius grinned and stopped abruptly continuing to neck his brother as he gasped for breath underneath him.

"Fancy having a shower together?" Sirius asked quickly a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Won't you friends come back soon?" Regulus raised an eyebrow his breathing slowly returning to normal.

"Nah they won't be back for ages" Sirius chuckled.

"Well in that case…. You're on" Regulus grinned as Sirius jumped off of him grabbing him by the hand he yanked him towards the bathroom….


	8. Suspicions

For the rest of the day Remus couldn't shake this peculiar feeling that kept washing over him. At first he couldn't quite put his finger on it but after seeing Sirius and Regulus in bed together like that this morning, he'd been feeling strange.

It wasn't just that though it was the fact that all of a sudden they'd started growing so close together, they were always laughing, talking, hugging and Sirius was even kissing Regulus on the cheek at every opportunity. To go from very little to all of this they must have had some serious bonding time during the summer.

Still Remus couldn't shake the thoughts that maybe something else was going on.

That evening when they were up in the dormitory, Sirius and Regulus were sitting on the bed together doing their homework. Remus sat on his own bed, the one just over from Sirius' reading through a book and watching them every so often through the corner of his eye.

"I can't believe you're still stuck on this crap, Reg" Sirius chuckled nodding down to Regulus' Astronomy questions he seemed to be having trouble answering. "That's easy we did it last year"

"Yes you did it last year, your last year is my this year" Regulus chuckled.

"Aww need any help?"

"That would be grand" Regulus replied pointing to the top question in the text book. Sirius leaned over to read it carefully and furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully for a moment.

Maybe he was going mad. Remus shook his head, maybe he was just making things up in his head as he went along. There was nothing weird about Sirius or Regulus' behaviour they were sitting, like friends or brothers should be, doing homework together. Nothing sinister, nothing strange.

_Maybe I'm the weird one_ Remus thought bitterly as he turned a page in his text.

"Hey Regulus"

Regulus looked up, it was James.

"Yeah?"

"Have you spoken with those Slytherin cronies you normally hang out with?" the older Gryffindor asked playing with his stolen Snitch casually in the open as though it was nothing out of the ordinary, even in front of Regulus.

"No, why do you want me to leave?" the younger boy asked worriedly.

"No you're fine here, just wondering if they'd said anything to you after what happened"

"No and they fucking better not" Sirius snarled. "I'll kill them if they lay a finger on Regulus again"

Remus' ears pricked and he turned to watch what was going on. Still nothing seemed strange, unless you counted a boy being protective over his little brother. Still Regulus wasn't a little baby anymore, nor was he that much younger than Sirius, in reality there was little over a year difference between them but still Regulus came across as a small fragile, pretty boy.

Regulus smiled up into his brother's face his curving back over his pearly white teeth to grin at his brother. He leaned against him lazily and stretched out his legs in front of him.

"I'll take any excuse to rip the shit out of Snivellus, can you make something up that he's done something to you just so we can wail on him?" James smirked his hazel eyes flashing dangerously.

Sirius threw his head back and laughed with Peter but Regulus just flushed nervously, he obviously wasn't fully comfortable with the other's knowing yet.

"Uhh..." Regulus stammered.

"That's wrong" Remus jumped in. "He might be Snape but he hasn't actually done anything at the moment" he said calmly.

"Oh don't be a spoil sport, Moons" James sighed rolling his eyes.

"I'm serious!"

"No I believe that's me" Sirius waggled his eyebrows playfully at Remus.

"Oh you know what I mean" Remus couldn't help but laugh. "I just don't think it's right to bully or 'wail' on him just because you're bored, how would you feel if someone did that to you?"

"Please don't get all mother hen on us" Peter groaned.

"I'm not I just think-"

"You just don't like us hassling other people because people have done it to you" Sirius finished rolling his eyes. They'd heard that same line far too many times in the past couple of years.

Remus blushed awkwardly.

"Hey and besides, nobody would dare pull any of this shit on me because I'd string them up by their balls" James yawned lazily.

Remus rolled his eyes and got into bed.

"Hey Reg, wanna get under the covers?" Sirius murmured, his lips against his little brother's ear.

A shudder ran down Regulus' spine and he nodded. "Yes"

They slipped into bed snuggling up together trying to make it look as innocent and friendly as possible but under the covers their legs were intertwined and Sirius' hand was resting on his brother's soft, plump bottom. Sirius almost groaned.

"This arse is so bloody tight" he whispered.

Regulus fluttered his eyelashes shyly and subconsciously and blushed even further. "Probably not as tight anymore after I've had such a big cock up there"

Sirius' grey eyes twinkled with delight and he grinned excitedly. Regulus smirked, knowing what kind of effect he was having on his brother, he continued.

"Mm yeah you're hung like a horse, fucking turns me on so much" he purred being careful not to let the other's overhear him.

Sirius bit back a moan gazing into his brother's pretty face. "You like it then do you?"

"Yeah when you first pushed inside me it was so romantic and loving but I thought you were going to destroy my arse, so thick and deep it shocked me in more ways than one" the younger boy winked playfully.

"Gods you're so good at dirty talk" Sirius breathed.

"Mm I'm good at other things that involve my mouth too" Regulus purred his eyes falling half lidded.

"Oh?" Sirius quirked a fine dark eyebrow playfully and Regulus chuckled.

"Talking... kissing... licking-" his eyes dropped down between them. "Sucking..." he whispered.

"If you don't stop I'll pin you down and take you over and over again until you scream" Sirius shuddered playfully.

"Please do"

Sirius swallowed and reached up to pull the rope controlling the bed curtains, the drapes fell closed around the bed and Sirius instantly pulled his brother into a hot, passionate kiss. He climbed over the top of his brother, pushing his legs apart he sank between them rocking their bodies together gently.

Regulus breathed a heavy sigh of pleasure as he returned the kiss. "We can't do anything tonight though..."

"I know and that's really fucking annoying" Sirius said huskily. "Can't risk it"

"Yeah kissing is hard enough to keep quiet let alone anything else" Regulus said.

"It's a shame, maybe this weekend we could get some alone time together when the others are in Hogsmeade, we could stay here and have some quality time together" Sirius whispered.

"I'd love to" Regulus breathed his lips curling up into a smile.

They snuggled down under the covers pressing playful kisses to one another's faces for a little while before they finally settled down to actually get some sleep.

"Love you, Reg"

"Love you Siri" Regulus breathed.

Remus lay awake for a while that night turning things over in his mind. What was he thinking? He hadn't outwardly accused Sirius of anything but the guy was one of his very best friends, how could he accuse him of doing something with his own brother! Well, Remus wasn't exactly sure that Sirius had really done anything he was just suspicious and it was making him see every little thing he did anywhere near Regulus was malicious or sexual when it wasn't.

"I'm making myself into a fool, I'm making myself paranoid" he whispered massaging his temples lazily. "I have got to stop over thinking things, nothing is going on and I know that, I'm just being obsessive and looking for trouble" he said to himself.

Remus paused a moment and laughed. "Talking to myself... first sign of madness..."

He rolled over and sighed. For now he would put all of this behind him and stop making nothing into something. Yeah... for now anyway.

A few days went by and the weekend arrived.

"Woohoo, Saturday tomorrow can't fucking wait to kick back and relax and go to Hogsmeade" James yawned stretching his arms above his head as they sauntered out of potions.

"Same I'm knackered" Sirius laughed. "Oh hey I need to go and meet Regulus"

"Sure, see you at dinner?" James said and Sirius nodded.

They parted ways and Sirius headed off into the entrance hall and up the staircases towards the Transfiguration classroom where Regulus would be about to come out of.

He stopped outside and waited for a few minutes until finally the door opened and the noisy class filed out. Towards the front of the mob, Regulus came hurrying out grinning when he laid eyes on his brother.

"Hey!"

"Hi Reg, have fun?"

"Not really" Regulus laughed. "You?"

"Same pretty much" Sirius grinned. "Glad it's the weekend though, had enough of all these shitty lessons" he added. "Hey you still on for tomorrow? Those guys are going about half ten and won't be back until late so we could have some serious fun" he quirked an eyebrow suggestively watching his brother blush.

"I'm definitely up for it" he said quietly. "I'm really looking forward to it actually"

Sirius shifted closer glancing around quickly to check if the coast was clear, he said "Is your arse sore?"

Regulus shook his head quickly. "It was a couple of days ago but it's fine now" he smiled brightly. "I'm all nice, better and waiting to get it again" he winked playfully.

"Where do you want it?" Sirius breathed.

"Any hole" Regulus smirked back.

Sirius' handsome face spread into a grin. "You're very naughty aren't you? Who would have thought my perfect little pure blood brother could be so _filthy_" he growled playfully.

Regulus' eyes widened and he flushed furiously.

"But I fucking love it" Sirius added with a chuckle. Regulus' face spread into an enormous grin.

"Right, anything you want to do before dinner?" Sirius asked but Regulus just shrugged.

"Come toilet with me"

Sirius' eyes twinkled.

"Not like that" Regulus laughed. "What kind of slut do you take me for?"

Sirius threw his head back and barked a laugh. "Oh little brother, I do not take you for a slut but I do take you for a very dirty, very naughty little boy" he wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

Regulus batted his brother lightly on the arm shaking his head and laughing.

They headed into the toilet, Sirius waited outside the cubicle and ten seconds later Regulus was back out washing his hands.

With a sideways glance towards the door, Sirius slipped his arms around Regulus' waist. "We're alone now"

Regulus turned off the tap, wiped his hands on a paper towel and tossed it into the rubbish before turning to his brother draping his arms around his shoulders. "I guess we are" he breathed.

"You know, Reg, you really are gorgeous" Sirius smiled warmly.

"You're saying that because I look just like you..."

"No I'm not" Sirius laughed quickly. "No, well I mean you do look like me but I'm not trying to give myself compliments, no you look like me but at the same time you don't" he smiled warmly. "You're your own person and I find you so fucking sexy" Sirius breathed. "You're gorgeous, you're unique and I love you, never forget that"

Regulus' lips curled into a gentle smile his eyes lit up with happiness. "I won't" he whispered. "And I love you too"

"Good" Sirius smiled leaning in and pecking Regulus on the lips. "Now let's go get something to eat"

"Okay" Regulus nodded.

They left the toilet and headed along the dungeon corridor to the great hall. The roar of laughter and constant chatter filled their ears as they headed into the enormous room making their way along the table to where James, Peter and Remus were sitting. Regulus spared a glance over at the Slytherin table where his ex friends were sitting talking amongst one another paying him no attention what so ever. They still hadn't spoken to him since the drug incident, terrified Sirius might come after them, if there was one thing Regulus could say about them it was that they were not stupid by any means, pissing off Sirius Black was one of the dumbest things someone could do.

They dropped into their seats, Regulus smiled to the others as he began piling his plate with fried chicken.

"Alright guys" Sirius greeted merrily. "Any plans for tonight?"

"Well seeing as we're going to be out messing about all weekend I propose we actually do our homework" Remus said quickly.

"You always propose homework, why don't you just propose to the homework and marry it?" James said rolling his eyes earning a glare from the werewolf.

"It's okay to worry about your education you know..." he argued.

"Yeah but when you're as clever as I am these things just come naturally" Sirius boasted earning a groan from the others.

"Someone needs to stick a pin in that big head of yours and deflate it" Regulus teased.

"Hey I don't have a big head I just have a lot of boast about" Sirius chuckled.

"Padfoot my friend, there's boasting and then there's you" James smirked.

They ate happily, even Regulus joined in well with the conversation until they headed off up the stairs. Sirius lead him around a corner to throw the cloak over him before they made their way into the common room and up into the dormitory.

Regulus lay down on his tummy across his brother's bed watching as he started to play fight with James for a little while and it almost turned into a hexing match before Lupin jumped in and put a stop to it reminding them of what happened the last time this happened and they spent three days in the hospital wing with some very difficult to explain problems.

"Hey listen guys I'm off out tonight" Peter yawned stretching his arms over his head.

"Where are you going?" James blinked, confused.

"If I tell you don't make a thing of it..."

Sirius and James exchanged curious looks and even Remus sat up to stare at his friend. Obviously this wasn't something normal for Peter.

"I'm going to meet a girl" the plump boy smiled.

"Oooh Peter has a girlfriend, Peter has a girlfriend!" Sirius changed dancing around on the spot.

"What's she like? Is she fit? Do we know her? What house is she in?" James rambled off quickly.

"Good for you, Pete!" Remus said supportively.

An awkward blush scattered across Peters face. "Well she's called Bella, she's a year younger and she's fit as fuck" he grinned. "Oh and she's a Hufflepuff"

Regulus sighed inwardly, Pettigrew wasn't too bad but it was kind of expected that if he did get with anyone it would have to be a Hufflepuff, no other house would take him.

"Nice... what does she look like?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Don't you even think about taking her away from me!" Peter snapped worriedly.

"No threat of that, Peter because I'm gay" Sirius laughed.

Remus, Peter and James' eyes widened and their jaws dropped staring at their friend.

"Hold on a second, did you just say you're gay? As in, into blokes?" James quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, what of it?" Sirius straightened up.

"Nothing it's just... I always thought you were into women" James shrugged a little. "Wow, I can't believe it... all those girls will be disappointed..."

"Yeah but the boys won't" Peter laughed.

Regulus couldn't hold back a smirk as he gazed lovingly at his brother, thankfully none of the others were even bothering to look at him right now, the news of Sirius' sexuality must have shocked them more than he'd have ever expected.

Sirius just laughed and waved him off. "Let's not get off topic here" he said. "What about this Bella?"

Peter grinned excitedly. "Oh she's a fit brunette with big brown eyes and big tits" he began.

Remus was lost in his own little world. He sat back against the headboards those strange sensations washing over him again. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but something wasn't right here... Maybe he was on the right track after all, being suspicious of the two brothers that is. Things were adding up a little, that or he was being over paranoid again.

_So what if Sirius is gay and cares about his brother, lots of brothers are really close and some are gay, that doesn't mean anything's going on between them! _He thought trying to soothe his raving thoughts. The little voice in his head kept telling him something was up, something was different but he refused to listen to it. If Sirius knew what Remus was thinking about them it would probably destroy their friendship, it was simply outrageous and horrendous to even accuse someone of such a thing.

He glanced over at Regulus, the boy had slipped out of his uniform and was lying across the bed in his underwear, his eyes closed, probably sound asleep by now.

Remus sighed to himself. He had got to stop thinking like this.

The next morning, James and Remus were up bright and early, they dressed and waited. Sneaking across the dormitory they threw back Peter's curtains startling him awake.

"What the bloody hell is going on!?"

"How'd it go?!" James asked eagerly.

"Yes do tell" Remus smirked.

Peter groaned and flopped back down against his pillows. Of course, he'd gotten back late last night and the others were in bed fast asleep.

"We kissed" he said slowly.

James and Remus' face's spread into wide grins.

"Peter and Bella sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!" James sang earning a harsh kick in the thigh from Peter.

"Ooft, watch it!"

"Shut it then" Peter said back.

"Hey Sirius, Regulus!" James shouted across the dormitory to where the two boys were lying sprawled across the bed.

Sirius groaned and feebly tried to wave him off. "Sleep..."

"Peter got his first kiss last night!" Remus said loudly.

Both of the boy's eyes opened and they blinked over at them. Sirius managed to prop himself up a little and grin.

"Well done mate!" he beamed before collapsing back into the bedding.

"Wow, how enthusiastic" Remus said rolling his eyes sarcastically. "But good going, Peter, I'm happy for you" he smiled.

"Thanks... can we just get up now?" Peter whined. "We'll have to get up anyway if we want to go Hogsmeade"

"Yeah, we'll wait for you in the common room" James nodded before turning to look up at Sirius and Regulus still curled up in bed together. "You coming guys?"

"No" they said simultaneously.

"Alright, see you" Remus nodded as he turned to follow James out of the dormitory, he couldn't help but glance back worriedly at them.

It was only fifteen minutes later when Peter was out of the dormitory calling his goodbye's and leaving the other two alone.

As soon as the door closed and the footsteps died away, Sirius rolled over and wrapped his arms around Regulus kissing the back of his exposed, pale neck softly.

"Mm wake up gorgeous" Sirius moaned softly grinding his morning erection into the crevice of Regulus' bottom. "The Sirius express is ready for boarding..."

A soft chuckle rumbled up Regulus' throat and he leaned back into his brother's grinding. "The station is ready to receive the train" he continued.

"Kinky" Sirius smiled as Regulus turned over and buried his face sleepily in his chest.

"So tired..."

"This week taken it out of you?"

Regulus nodded.

"Aww, wanna sleep for a while longer?"

Regulus nodded eagerly.

"Alright then" Sirius smiled pressing his lips softly to the top of his brother's silky ebony head. "Love you" he said.

"Love you too" Regulus sighed happily before drifting back off into a comfortable sleep.

Only a few short hours later and they woke again, Regulus pecking Sirius playfully on his chest.

"Mm wake up, Sirius" he whispered entangling their legs beneath the warm, thick bed covers. "Time to get up now..." he breathed huskily. Regulus watched as his brother's eyebrows furrowed and he groaned lazily before slowly those beautiful silver eyes fluttered open and he blinked them into focus.

"Morning" he yawned lazily.

Regulus couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh and it was you who wanted to get up earlier?" he quirked an eyebrow earning a very gentle shove from his lover.

Sirius just laughed and shrugged. "Oh well, wanna get dressed, some breakfast and then come back up for some time together?"

"Sounds good to me" Regulus smiled.

They got up, dressed and after some playful kisses and gentle fondling they were on their way down for breakfast with Regulus completely concealed under James' cloak. They headed down the enormous winding staircases until they reached the bottom, a small crowd of Slytherin's stood watching Sirius as he passed (to them he was alone) and made his way along the corridor disappearing into the dungeons.

They headed into a toilet where Sirius whacked off the cloak and stuffed it into his bag, he pulled his brother into a tender kiss before they set out back along the corridor and into the entrance hall passing that same crowd of Slytherin's. To anyone else it would have just looked like he'd been to fetch Regulus so they could go to breakfast together, rather cunning actually seeing as it showed everyone Regulus was apparently still sleeping somewhere in Slytherin.

They headed into the great hall chatting normally, ignoring the others as they sat down at the table and began piling their plates with food.

"What time do you reckon the other's will stay out until?" Regulus asked smearing chocolate spread over his toast.

"Oh probably won't be back until six, we've got all day" Sirius smiled back.

They sat there eating and talking for a while longer until finally the second wave of owls flew in to find their owners that weren't there earlier on.

They were helping themselves to fruit and Regulus was on about how he was worried for the exams at the end of the year when his own owl swooped down dropping a letter into his lap and flying away as quickly as she came.

"Who's it from?" Sirius asked curiously watching as Regulus turned it over and tore it open. He pulled a sheet of parchment out and unfolded it recognising the neat black scrawl immediately.

"Mum and dad" Regulus replied as he quickly scanned over the letter. "Oh..."

"Oh?" Sirius asked confusedly.

"They want me to go home for Christmas..." he cringed a little.

Sirius knew instantly what Regulus' concern was. "Go" he said. "Spend Christmas with them it's fine, Reg"

"But I want to be with you..." Regulus groaned.

"I hardly think I'm welcome at home that's why they asked you and not me" Sirius chuckled.

"It does say 'bring your brother if he wants'" Regulus pointed to the sentence written clearly towards the end of the letter.

Sirius hesitated a moment. "I was going to stay here..."

"Oh Sirius please come" Regulus said. "If you don't come with me then I'll just stay here with you either way"

"But even though they're a pair of evil old cunts I still want you to go home and spend time with mum and dad if you want to..." he said quietly a sad expression crossing his face.

"But I won't if you aren't going to be with me, I love mum and dad and I want to see them but I love you so much more" the younger boy said honestly. "Please come with me" he said hopefully gazing at his brother through his big, sparkling grey eyes trying to look as innocent and sweet as possible so Sirius just couldn't refuse him.

Sirius sighed with defeat. "Fine"

"I promise I'll make them be nice to you" Regulus grinned throwing his arms around his brother.

"If they don't then I'll kick some arse" Sirius laughed wrapping his arms around Regulus. Even though he really didn't want to go home, he so desperately wanted to be with his little brother and for him he'd do absolutely anything even if it mean his own discomfort, just to make Regulus happy. Seeing that smile on his little face was more than worth it.

After breakfast they snuck back into the toilet to throw he cloak over Regulus before they headed back up into the dorm.

Once inside, they washed up quickly and before Regulus knew what was happening he was stripped almost naked and his brother's lips were pressing lovingly against every inch of exposed ivory skin.

Regulus moaned arching into the touch as his brother laid him down onto the bed stroking his fingers through his long ebony locks.

"So beautiful and sexy" Sirius breathed.

"You always say that" Regulus half moaned.

"Because it's true and I can't get enough of you babe" Sirius whispered his voice low and husky as he lay across his brother's body. He groaned as he slowly began to grind against Regulus' hips, the younger boy hissed and arched his back when Sirius' member brushed against his own through the fabric of their underwear.

"Oohh"

"Gods" Sirius panted thrusting against his brother again setting a slow rhythm not wanting to make either of them cum too soon.

"I'm so fucking horny" Regulus moaned.

"Yeah? Tell me what you want, Regulus" Sirius growled suckling softly at the skin on his brother's neck before trailing those wonderful kisses down onto his torso.

"I want to be touched... sucked and fucked…." Regulus panted as his brother swirled his tongue around an unprotected nipple.

Sirius moaned shuffling down his brother's body still pressing kisses in a line all the way down to his underwear, he hooked his fingers into the waistband and tugged them off in one swift movement throwing them carelessly behind him.

Regulus shuddered eagerly with anticipation as Sirius gently began to nuzzle his plump testicles drawing patterns across them with his tongue before slowly making his way upwards trailing his tongue from base to tip of the younger boy's erection.

Regulus moaned loudly arching a little into his touch as Sirius engulfed the head of his member in his mouth sucking on it lightly teasing his tongue around that sensitive little slit.

Regulus sighed and groaned softly spreading his legs as his brother took his member further into his mouth sucking on it playfully, seemingly rather amused about the little sounds Regulus emitted every time he did something new to the boy.

"Fuck" Regulus moaned as Sirius quickened his pace, massaging that hyper-sensitive spot on the inside of the boy's legs.

"You like that?" Sirius groaned.

"Yeah so fucking much, more, please more" the younger boy panted helplessly as he buried his fingers in Sirius' long dark hair trying to encourage him to take more.

Sirius chuckled, the vibrations of his laughter sending wonderful little shockwaves of pleasure through his brother's erection earning another moan of delight as Regulus spread his legs even further. Sirius simply pulled back gazing into his boyfriend's clouded, lust filled eyes.

"Sex..." Regulus breathed. "I want to have sex with you"

"Oh you want to get a nice hard arse fucking do you?" Sirius smirked playfully.

Regulus nodded and moaned.

"You want my cock buried up to the balls inside of you?"

"Please…." Regulus moaned hoarsely.

"Mm very well, your wish is my command" Sirius moaned. He shifted up, pressing one last kiss on his brother's erection before turning and pulling the bedside table drawer open.

Regulus watched his brother squeeze some lube into the palm of his hand before moving down propping his legs up and leaning in closer to Regulus' tight hole. Slowly he reached out pressing one slick finger to the tight little pucker, Regulus raised his hips in a wanton motion groaning with excitement.

Sirius smirked, repeating the gesture again a little tingle of delight running down his slender spine as Regulus moaned softly. Slowly he tease the tip of his finger against that tight little hole, massaging it carefully switching to his thumb as he added a small amount of pressure, enough to make Regulus spread his legs wider once again.

Regulus gasped arching his back as without warning Sirius slipped his thumb inside his hot inviting body. "Oh gods, oh fuck" he whimpered bending his knees and lifting his legs up as his brother gently began to thrust his thumb inside his boyfriend.

Sirius twirled his thumb in a circular motion fluttering Regulus' tight entrance around his hand before carefully slipping his finger inside too to scissor him open.

By now Regulus was panting like a dog. "Oh please, Siri, please just do it" he moaned loudly.

A soft chuckle erupted from Sirius' throat and he withdrew the fingers yanking off his own underwear. Regulus swallowed and watched through half lidded eyes as his brother coated his own large erection with the lubricant making Regulus moan with anticipation.

"I want you up on your knees and when I turn around you'll sit on my cock" Sirius moaned.

Regulus gasped and shuddered with delight. "I love it when you talk to me like that"

"Yeah? Well do as you're told, Reggie, or I'll have to punish you" Sirius growled lightly slapping Regulus on the leg.

The boy hopped up immediately and switched places with his brother, Sirius sat up on the bed spreading his own legs and smirking, a mischievous glimmer sparkled in his pretty silver eyes.

"Come on beautiful" Sirius breathed watching Regulus shuffle towards him and slowly climb into his lap. "Go as slow as you like, okay? No rush I don't want to hurt you" Sirius smiled gently and Regulus nodded flushing.

Slowly Regulus took his position, pressing the tip of Sirius' erection to his slicked entrance he began to lower himself onto it.

Regulus gasped as the head of his brother's erection pushed through his anus slipping into his body.

Sirius gave a loud moan struggling to hold his hips still as his brother sank in just under halfway onto his member, pausing for breath and panting heavily. "Are you okay?"

Regulus nodded quickly allowing his body to get used to the intrusion. He paused and waited for a short period of time before shifting his hips sliding up and down on Sirius' cock sinking his teeth into his bottom lip as his body started relaxing around the intruder. It felt good, a little sore but he expected that, it was after all only his second time having sex so he wanted to take it slowly at first which Sirius really didn't seem to mind about.

"God Reggie you're so small, so tight" Sirius moaned his fingers kneading at the base of Regulus' back.

"You're so big and hard" Regulus whispered leaning forward a little making himself more comfortable in his brother's lap as he slowly pushed down impaling himself further just past halfway. "Fuck, I need this to go deeper..." he moaned.

Sirius gasped loudly and moaned as his brother slid deeper, three quarters of the way in, pausing only for a second before he began to bounce himself up on down on the erection moaning softly and clutching Sirius' shoulders for support.

Regulus started to pick up his pace moaning and pressing passionate kisses to the side of his brother's neck as Sirius gently grasped his bottom thrusting up into his body, meeting Regulus' every movement perfectly in time.

With one hard thrust Regulus was seated with Sirius' cock buried balls deep inside his arse, he gasped and moaned loudly, gripping onto his brother's shoulder for support. "Shit, oh fuck, oh gods" he whimpered with pleasure as his brother brushed against his sensitive little prostate. He started rocking his body slowly against his brother's erection moaning with pleasure at the sensations, he dared to open his eyes and meet Sirius' gaze.

The boy was shaking with pleasure, his eyes clouded with sexual arousal, he sat whimpering and moaning his hands spreading Regulus' bottom apart. "Sorry Reg but I-I-" Sirius moaned.

Regulus opened his mouth to speak but instead a small yelp of surprise escaped his lips as his brother began to furiously pound into his anus with mounting urgency slamming into his prostate with every movement. There was nothing Regulus could do other than brace himself and take the pounding.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck" Regulus moaned loudly.

"Yes Reg, we're fucking" Sirius gasped.

The room was filled with their loud moans and whimpers, Sirius' thrusting growing ever more urgent as the seconds ticked by until-

"REGULUS!" he screeched burying himself balls deep inside his little brother as he came hard and fast inside his arse, the gush of fluid stretching Regulus' hole to the limit as the younger boy cried out his brother's name and came in thick white loads between them soaking them both in his semen.

Regulus slumped forward against his brother, both of them breathing heavily unable to move or talk.

Time passed and they eventually settled down enough to breathe normally again. Slowly Regulus looked up into his brother's eyes, his member was still inside of him although not as prominently as before.

"Gods I'm so sorry..." Sirius began.

"Sirius that-"

"I'm sorry, oh god, I'm so fucking sorry, Reg, I lost control for a minute there" Sirius said quickly.

"Turned me on so much" the younger boy smiled warmly.

Sirius opened his mouth to ramble his apologies on but froze and stared into his brother's face. "Huh?"

"That was so fucking hot" Regulus smiled again.

"But I just sort of grabbed you and started fucking you really hard, I didn't hurt you did I?" Sirius asked worriedly but Regulus shook his head a smile still playing on his handsome face.

"No I'm fine, I loved it actually I loved the way you just took control over me" he breathed. "It made me feel so dominated and fucked so thoroughly"

"You know I really do love you, Reg?" Sirius smiled gently nuzzling his brother's cheek.

"And I love you too" Regulus giggled as Sirius started kissing his cheek playfully.

"Mm so how about we go and get cleaned up?" Sirius suggested.

Regulus laughed and nodded. "I'm up for that!" he smiled.

"Great" said Sirius flashing one of his usual toothy grins.

Regulus got up slowly wincing a little as Sirius' soft member slipped from his anus. He hopped off of the bed padding across the floor, he turned to look back over his shoulder at his brother and smiled.

"You coming?"

"Yeah" Sirius said jumping up after him. "Do me a favour though"

"What's that?"

"Bend over" Sirius chuckled.

Without questioning his brother's intentions, Regulus bent over and smiled as Sirius spread his cheeks apart moaning at the sight of his own semen leaking from Regulus' red, abused hole.

"Now that is what I call sexy"

"Mm maybe if you're lucky you'll get to see some more of this, really fill me up" Regulus winked playfully.

Sirius' face lit up like a beacon of shining light. "Oooh baby..." he breathed hurrying after Regulus into the bathroom to lock the door behind them.

Meanwhile in Hogsmeade...

"Come on Evans you know you want to go on a date with me" James grinned cheekily.

"No I don't, leave me alone before I call Madame Rosmerta!" Lily snapped trying to shoo James away from her table.

"We can go anywhere you want I'll treat you and I'll make sure it's romantic and lovely" James tried again.

"No! Are you deaf?" she snarled.

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes, he'd had this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach all afternoon like something was going on back at the castle, something strange but he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Sighing he got up from the table, downed his drink and pulled on his cloak. "Listen guys I'm off home now"

"What, seriously?" James whined.

"Yeah when are you guys heading back?"

"Probably not for a few hours yet" said Peter.

Remus nodded. "Okay, see you in the common room" he waved before heading out of the door and making his way along the chilly cobbled path of the village towards the carriages waiting at the gates. He wasn't sure what was going on right now but there was one thing he was sure about.

He was going to find out what was going on, there was no doubt about that….


	9. The Eighteenth Birthday and The Known

Remus nodded. "Okay, see you in the common room" he waved before heading out of the door and making his way along the chilly cobbled path of the village towards the carriages waiting at the gates. He wasn't sure what was going on right now but there was one thing he was sure about.

He was going to find out what was going on, there was no doubt about that….

When Remus arrived back at the castle he headed straight up for the Gryffindor tower. Making his way through the portrait hole he climbed the dormitory stairs and walked along until he found his own dormitory. He hesitated a moment outside his hand pausing just before it touched the handle of the door, was this right? To intrude on them like this?

Remus just could not shake the feeling something weird was going on, it was instinct for him with being a Werewolf and such. He knew when things were wrong he could just feel it and things between Sirius and Regulus felt strangely wrong.

Was he really prepared for what he was about to see?

Was he correct in being suspicious of them?

Where they really up to something they shouldn't be?

Remus hesitated for a few more moments, he heard a muffled moan from inside the dormitory and his heart skipped a nervous beat, his breath caught in his throat, his hands were sweating a little bit. Closing his eyes for a second he tried to regain himself before nodding once, taking a deep breath before he flung the door open-

And there they were.

Sirius and Regulus locked in a passionate embrace on the bed. Sirius was laying on top of his brother between his legs, Regulus' skinny little legs were up in the air, knees bent and his arms draped around his brother's neck. Thankfully….. THANKFULLY they had their boxer shorts on but the fact that Sirius' tongue was halfway down his moaning brother's throat did not hide the fact they were up to something they shouldn't have been.

Remus' jaw nearly hit the floor, his gasp was loud enough to rattle the windows.

Sirius and Regulus' reaction was terrific. Their lips parted in a wet, suction noise that reminded Remus horribly of the Muggle plunger his dad had used last summer to retrieve his Sneakoscope from the toilet. They jumped but did not pull apart or seem to even attempt to, their eyes wide and their mouths open and glistening with each other's saliva.

Remus slammed the door shut behind him before anyone could see in, the last thing he wanted was to explain why he'd been caught gawking at the two Black brother's getting it on in the Gryffindor dormitory.

"What the-"

Sirius managed to untangle himself from his brother whom Remus noticed was panting slightly. He climbed off of the bed his hands held up in a submissive gesture.

Remus was horrified.

"Now, Moony, this isn't what it looks like…." He said slowly in a manner that made Remus feel like he was a dumb child.

"Not what it looks like…." Remus breathed his voice coming out higher than it should have been. "NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!?" his voice rose in shock.

"Remus, keep your voice down!" Sirius hissed trying to wave his friend to silence as those silver eyes flickered towards the door nervously.

"Why should I?" Remus almost demanded finally managing to regain some composure. His eyes flickered to Regulus who looked fearful but not too worried, it was like they'd almost been expecting for this to happen at some point. "You're sleeping with your brother!" he said pointing the accusing finger to the younger Slytherin.

Sirius sighed heavily and his eyes dropped to the floor. "But I love him…."

"I'm sure you do but he is your little brother, Sirius, you're supposed to love him as a brother" said Remus.

"I do Remus but I also love him as my lover as in, in love with him" Sirius said looking up worriedly into his friend's face. "What is your problem with this?"

"What is my problem?" Remus gasped in complete and utter surprise. "He's your brother and I just walked in on you trying to mount him!"

"Remus-"

"Sirius that's incest!" Remus hissed moving closer to the boy. "Incest…."

Neither Sirius nor Regulus actually looked upset by this idea in the slightest.

Remus sighed heavily.

"Let's talk about this, okay?" Sirius tried sinking back down on his bed. Regulus sat up beside him and pulled the covers over himself a little bit as he watched Remus closely.

Remus closed his eyes clenching them tightly for a few moment before he kicked off his shoes, tossed his cloak aside and grabbed something to change into. He went into the bathroom not being able to even look at them whilst he changed and washed his hands before he went back in with a sigh. He just couldn't believe that he'd walked in on something like this, it wasn't like he hadn't been sort of expecting it but it was shocking and disturbing and weird.

When he moved to sit on his own bed in his comfy joggers and hoodie he noticed that Sirius had climbed in beside his brother and they were both looking to Remus very expectantly.

"I don't know what to say about this" Remus said finally. "I really don't"

"Say that you won't tell anyone" Sirius said quietly.

Remus stared. "And why shouldn't I tell people that you're fucking your brother?"

"Because you're like a brother to me, Moony" Sirius' eyebrows furrowed with concern, the look on his face of care for Remus was actually extremely genuine, this made Remus' heart flutter in his chest, he always wanted someone to be like a brother to him.

"Yeah and we all know how you treat your brothers…." His eyes flickered to Regulus who blushed furiously and averted his eyes, the eyes identical to Sirius' own pair.

"Look, Remus…." Sirius began. "You don't understand"

"You're damn right I don't understand" Remus let out a short laugh. "I suspected something was going on, I knew it, I just fucking knew it and all this time you've been at it with your brother" he said shaking his head with a heavy sigh. "Why, Sirius?"

Sirius and Regulus looked helplessly to one another. "You can't help who you fall in love with"

"I know that, but your brother? Really?!"

Sirius sighed softly. "What will it take for you not to tell people about this?"

Remus stared. "You two have to be more careful, you have got to let the teachers know he's living here now for his own safety, and you've got to tell James and Peter…. In your own time of course…." He said slowly.

Sirius breathed a hefty sigh of relief, he looked as though he were about to leap off of his bed and hug Remus tightly but the boy held up his hand before Sirius could move more than an awkward flinch.

"Okay" Sirius nodded slowly with understanding. "I understand"

Remus sighed heavily and looked from one to the other, neither seemed to be even remotely concerned about this matter at all. "How did this all happen then?"

"Through the summer" Regulus said quietly. "Sirius and I grew really close and we spent so much time together and things just set off from there really"

Remus nodded slowly and swallowed. Just how does being close friends with your full blood sibling get set off and turn into raging incest? Remus wasn't about to argue with that, he knew how Sirius could be if he pushed things, he knew the boy would get upset, he knew Sirius would storm off in a rage and probably hex some innocent second years again so Remus was just going to leave it be for now.

He turned around and settled down on his bed.

"So how come you're back from Hogsmeade so soon?" Sirius blinked confusedly.

"Because I had some suspicions something was going on up here and decided to finally check them out" Remus replied. "And it's lucky I did" he said glancing to them.

They both blushed and settled down under the covers together.

"James didn't get Lily by the way" Remus said in a much softer, more casual voice.

Sirius was grinning excitedly and let out a bark of a laugh. "Better luck next time to him then"

The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon together in the dormitory, Sirius and Regulus actually decided to put some clothes on for once in their lives and sat on top of the covers.

When dinner approached they went downstairs, James and Peter arrived back just as they'd tucked in and were talking excitedly about their day at the pub and the pretty girls they'd chatted to after Lily and her bitchy friends had disappeared off out somewhere.

Just as they were leaving the Great Hall, Sirius spotted Professor McGonagall on her way to the staircases probably going to her office. He grabbed a hold of his brother and ran towards her making the smaller boy yelp with surprise.

"Professor!" he called loudly.

She whirled around and looked to him in surprise. "Good evening, Sirius" she nodded her eyes flickering to the Slytherin. "Regulus"

"Professor we really need to talk to you about something" Sirius said quickly.

Regulus now looked both worried and confused.

"Of course, would you like to come up to my office?" she offered and Sirius nodded.

They followed her the whole way up in silence, Sirius smiled to his brother who looked at him with nervously pleading eyes as though desperate to find out what was going on but Sirius just wasn't giving in to anything.

Surely he wouldn't tell her about their relationship, would he?

Regulus swallowed the big hard lump of nerves in his throat as he followed them into the office and took a seat beside his brother.

Professor McGonagall closed the door and moved over to her desk sitting down behind it brushing some detention slips aside as she looked at them locking her fingers together in a sort of serious teacher manner.

"Professor, my brother has been having A LOT of problems down in Slytherin" Sirius began. "He's lost all of his friends and they're…." he looked to Regulus who was shooting him daggers in warning not to say anything. "Bullying him quite badly and we no longer feel he is safe down there" he began.

"I see" said McGonagall nodding slowly, her eyes flickering between them. "Continue, please"

"For a while now he's actually been coming to stay in my dormitory where I can keep an eye on him and make sure that he's definitely okay" Sirius went on. "I can't stand the thought of him being down there where I don't trust he's okay and he isn't frightened and whether you do something or not that isn't going to stop these people" he continued. "I want to ask if Regulus could be transferred to my dormitory" he finished with a sweet, dazzling smile that could literally win him awards!

Professor McGonagall sighed, even she couldn't deny that smile or his pretty face what he wanted. "If you don't want to follow them up and it will make things easier and keep you both happy then I will, I just have one question as to where he would sleep?"

"In my bed with me" Sirius blinked. "We're both boys and we're brothers so it's not like we haven't seen each other nude or shared a bed before…." He went on.

McGonagall seemed to ponder on this for a moment before she nodded with understanding. "Very well, I'll have him transferred, you may go back to your dormitory now" she nodded.

"Thanks very much, Professor" Sirius grinned excitedly jumping to his feet with Regulus beside him looking equally as delighted.

"Yes, thank you!" Regulus beamed.

"My pleasure boys, now I'd better not have any trouble from you!" she said pointing the accusing finger at Sirius whom laughed and rested his hands confidently on his hips.

"I'll be on my best behaviour" Regulus nodded quickly.

"Oh I don't doubt that you will" the woman smiled gently to him. "But your brother won't be"

"Now what sort of a brother would I be if that happened?" he grinned brightly.

The teacher just sighed and they left the office very happily.

Regulus and Sirius threw their arms around one another in the corridor hugging tightly and with excitement.

When they drew apart they grinned to one another and practically ran up to the common room with Regulus completely uncovered.

Their friends were all sitting around the fire and a few people who were busy doing homework at the tables turned to stare when Regulus appeared completely visible to the world.

"What are you looking at?" Sirius challenged puffing his chest out slightly with aggression.

The boy sitting at the table shook his head and averted his eyes awkwardly.

"Sirius, please don't pick fights I've only been in here about two minutes I don't want people to despise me already…."

They sank down into the chairs to their very confused-looking friends. Remus stared at them but said absolutely nothing. Apparently everything that had passed between them earlier was still pretty fresh.

"Umm, Sirius?" James blinked his hazel eyes flickering to the younger boy for just a moment.

"Oh, right" Sirius laughed clapping himself stupidly on the forehead. "Duh!" he grinned. "We've been to McGonagall and got Regulus transferred up here because I can't stand the thought of my baby brother down with those nasty little snakes being taught all kinds of bad manners" he grinned playfully pinching Regulus' rounded cheeks.

The boy shot him a dirty look, but it was only playful.

"You're safe now, Reg" Sirius grinned slinging an arm around his brother's shoulders.

The rest of the evening was spent chatting around the fire, Regulus soon began to doze off close to midnight and Sirius laughed lifting the smaller boy into his arms and carrying him up the dormitory stairs like a child…..

….

A few days went by and now people were starting to get used to the whole idea of Regulus being in the Gryffindor common room despite the fact he was still very much a Slytherin.

The Slytherin's on the other hand were less than impressed with this idea and shot filthy looks to them whenever they passed. Sirius had been making sure to meet his little brother outside of lessons to be certain he was safe and he wanted full reports of anything that happened to him there like his old friends being horrible or bullying him and such, even anything as little as a dirty look was off the mark and Sirius demanded that Regulus pass on any notes or other physical evidence of abuse that he could find.

Remus had also kept his word and remained silent seeing as Sirius and Regulus were holding up their part of the bargain and being careful not to flaunt themselves too much in the public eye or in front of their friends. They still hadn't told James or Peter about what was going on and quite frankly, Remus hadn't expected them to just yet. It was too soon.

….

As the days flicked by, September turned into October which moved closer and closer to November. That distinct chill was hanging very heavily in the air and the boys knew that Christmas would soon be looming.

It was now November and that icy air of winter was lashing around the outsides of the castle most days, the rain hammered on down and the winds were high.

Sirius and Regulus were still together and still very much in love.

"Let me kiss your bum" Sirius grinned trying to pin his squirming brother to the bed covers.

Regulus let out a high-pitched laugh trying to wiggle himself free as he fought in a pyjama top with the matching red bottoms pooling around his ankles.

"Come on, Regulus" Sirius teased. "Why do you get all silly and wriggly whenever I do this to you?"

Regulus was blushing crazily by now. "Because it's my bum!"

Sirius grinned again and managed to pin his brother into the bed turning him over, the boy was laughing as he leaned down and pressed one soft kiss to each cheek before he rolled Regulus over again. "There, was that so hard?"

"No" Regulus flushed bright startling pink.

"You've just had a bath and you're all soft and cosy now, I think I'd like to give you a proper cuddle under the covers" Sirius smirked letting Regulus up enough to pull up his trousers still blushing crazily.

"You're mad, Sirius" Regulus smirked. "But that's why I love you"

Sirius smiled warmly, no silly grins or anything now just genuine happiness. "I love you too" he breathed.

They settled down under the warm covers, Sirius pulled a cosy Regulus into his arms kissing the back of his neck and curling around the very cuddly teenager.

"So, seeing as we're getting closer to Christmas, what are you planning to do for it?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Well" Regulus began. "I was kind of hoping that we could do home for it…." He said turning over to face Sirius shooting him an extremely innocent look.

Sirius stared. "When you say we…..?"

"You and I, Sirius"

Sirius groaned very loudly. "Reg…."

"Come on, Sirius, it will be fun, mother would so love to see us" the boy smiled hopefully.

Sirius groaned again with a heavy sigh. "But I don't like it there…."

Regulus opened his eyes wide and pouted to Sirius. He could see instantly as the boy's face melted and became soft almost at once.

"Please don't pull that on me, Reg…."

Regulus blinked innocently at him and snuffled closer fiddling with the buttons on the front of Sirius' nightshirt still pouting at him.

"Reg!" Sirius laughed. "Okay, okay I will go with you if it makes you happy then" he grinned. "I guess I will just have to tolerate that evil old bag"

"Sirius!" Regulus gasped. "She is our mother"

"Doesn't mean she has a right to be a mother…." Sirius muttered.

Regulus rolled his eyes, he wasn't going to continue this because he knew that Sirius could argue for hours about that woman.

Not long after that they settled down and allowed sleep to overcome them….

The next morning it was Saturday and as usual, both Sirius and Regulus were proving a mission to get out of bed.

"Don't wake me up, James…. And don't make me wake Regulus up either…." Sirius groaned pulling the covers up over his head.

Regulus furrowed his eyebrows slightly but refused to even respond.

"Don't you want to go to the duelling club?" James tried.

"Yeah but sleep…."

"Half an hour more and I will physically drag you both out of bed" James said flinging their bed curtain closed.

The two boys grinned simultaneously and snuggled up together to go back to sleep….

When they did finally get out of bed and ready to go, they headed downstairs for a quick last minute bite to eat before they went outside to wait for the Great Hall to be transformed.

When it was all done and ready, the group of boys made their way into the Great Hall once again and moved around the room to find a space.

"Now, we all know the rules" said Professor McGonagall. "No curses, dangerous hexes, dark magic, anything that can be undone, no attempts at dark magic or curses and nothing that could physically injure or harm anybody in any way, any student using any of these techniques will be removed at once!" she barked over the heads of students glaring around as though ready to challenge anyone who might disagree with her.

"Now" she said after a brief moments pause. "Find yourselves a partner or double up and we'll get started" she clapped her hands together loudly withdrawing her own wand just in case she needed it for something.

"I'll deal with Black" Snape's icy voice rang through the air.

Both Sirius and Regulus turned to stare at him unsure who the smirking, nasty Slytherin was addressing exactly.

Snape's cold, black eyes fell on Regulus holding his gaze almost painfully for a few moments.

Sirius' eyes widened. "Oh on you won't" he snapped.

Snape smirked and glanced back to his friends. "Mulciber, Avery!" he called. "Why don't one of you take baby Black and I'll take his brother then"

Sirius felt all of the colour drain from his face. It would be far worse if he left his little brother to the wild dogs instead of Snivellus, Mulciber and Avery were extremely high risk for breaking the rule which they would obviously think did not apply to them and see as pathetic and feeble. Sirius swallowed. "You take, Reg, I'll take anyone you throw at me" he said pulling out his wand angrily.

Snape laughed coolly his eyes flickering back to Regulus. "Ready?"

Regulus swallowed and nodded following Snape over into a space, he shot one confident look to Sirius and gave him a nod before the younger boy pulled out his own wand and bowed low keeping his silver eyes locked dangerously on Snape.

Right now Sirius didn't want to duel anyone, he wanted to watch to make sure that Regulus was okay.

Sirius watched as they separated and moved into a better space closer to the wall, he swallowed the nervous lump that appeared in his throat, even Sirius knew that Severus was very capable at duelling.

There was a pause where Snape bitterly counted down and a split second later he fired a hex directly at Regulus. The boy only just managed to shield himself in time before throwing a couple of stinging hexes Snape's way.

With speed Sirius hadn't thought possibly from the spidery boy, he leapt out of the way and cast a shield charm which shattered upon contact. Apparently Snape was very surprised.

Sirius smirked to himself, Regulus was putting up a pretty decent fight.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted James duelling with Lily but seemed to be losing, Peter was having a go with a Hufflepuff that looked rather alike to him with his podgy stance and his face reddened from effort. Neither seemed to be winning or losing.

Remus was duelling Evan Rosier and they were putting up a furious fight but Sirius wasn't concerned for the boy, he knew Remus could take Evan quite easily if he chose to but of course with Remus being Remus, he didn't want to hurt anyone if he could help it and to bring down Rosier he would most probably need to hurt him, even just a little bit.

Sirius' attention focused on the duelling watching the boys toss jinxes and hexes between them jumping out of the way, twisting into awkward angles, using shield charms and even trying to disarm one another.

With tremendous effort, Regulus shot a stinging hex right to where he anticipated Snape would jump into. With luck the Slytherin panicked as he flew right into the line of the hex, it hit him full in the chest and he fell backwards hard onto the ground.

Defeated.

Sirius ran over and grabbed a hold of Regulus pulling him tightly into his arms hugging it all out of him!

"Sirius…. You're squishing me…." Regulus rasped a little and Sirius laughed loosening his grip on the younger boy.

"Well done, babes!" Sirius laughed pressing his lips to the top of Regulus' head.

Regulus laughed and hugged Sirius tighter.

"Aww, how heartfelt" Snape's voice rang out.

"I think it might be time for one of us to take over in his place" Mulciber said folding his arms arrogantly over his chest. "Me and Avery versus you two" he said nodding to them.

Sirius tensed a little, not worried for himself but worried for Regulus, they would be a really tough match.

"You're on" Regulus grinned excitedly pulling away from his brother and holding his wand at the ready to go.

Sirius smiled and nodded fiercely. He was proud of Regulus for standing up for what he believed in, for being strong and protective and knowing he was abused by those boys it must have been a difficult task.

They moved around to get a foursome spacing going and bowed low to each other glaring carefully.

"Three, two, one…. GO!" called Snape.

Mulciber and Avery instantly started firing hexes.

Sirius cast a shield and Regulus leapt aside with a cry covering his face, he could literally feel the power of that hex reverberating in the air around them.

Avery grinned nastily. "Think you've taken on too much?"

"No way!" Regulus argued before Sirius could say anything. He twisted his wand and shot hot sparks to their feet. Avery jumped crying out and Regulus hit him with Flipendo stumbling on his own feet as Avery fell to the ground.

Mulciber and Sirius were battling it out furiously one hex after the other without hesitation, a few people had even stopped.

Avery got angrily to his feet and began putting Regulus under heavy attack throwing hexes all over the place.

Regulus was panicking as he tried to shield himself, get out of the way and get in a few aims but it was no use.

He had to think of something and fast!

An idea shot through Regulus' mind, as he turned to leap out of the way he shot a quick stinging hex to Mulciber knocking the unsuspecting Slytherin flying off of his feet. Regulus narrowly missed Avery's hex, stumbling on his feet he pointed his wand directly at Avery whom turned to stare confusedly at Mulciber.

Sirius fired an extremely fast "Flipendo!" hitting Avery and knocking him down to the ground once again.

Sirius and Regulus roared with delight, Remus appeared grinning after defeating Evan Rosier, James came looking pleased but disappointed in the fact that he was beaten by Lily and Peter was still too busy duelling his chubby Hufflepuff counterpart.

"In your face, Slytherin!" Sirius grinned clapping his arms above his head with excitement.

Avery and Mulciber got grumpily to their feet dusting each other off and glaring at the boys.

"You cheaters!" Mulciber said pointing to them. "You attacked another pairing"

Regulus just shrugged. "It was the four of us, Sirius and I against you and Avery" he went on. "All is far, you could have attacked me but you chose not to…."

Mulciber opened and closed his mouth several times.

Severus stood glaring at them all.

Avery folded his arms across his chest with irritation.

Sirius and Regulus just laughed high-fiving one another again.

"Well done, little bro" Sirius grinned. "You're quite the duellist!"

"Thank you, not too shabby yourself" Regulus winked.

"You two should duel off" said James rather excitedly.

"No" Sirius said quickly. "I can't do that"

"Aww, afraid of hurting your little shitty brother then?" Severus pouted sadly. "How sickeningly sweet…." He mocked.

"Shut your greasy mouth, Snape" James spat.

"Yeah, go brush your teeth they're all yellow and crooked!" Sirius waved him off lazily.

"Pussy boys" Snape muttered turning to walk away.

"No that's you, Snape" Sirius called after him.

Regulus couldn't help but laugh.

After that they watched Peter until finally Professor McGonagall pulled them apart ending their seemingly endless duel. The boys turned to leave to go off and find something to do before lunch that day.

"Well done, boys" James grinned slinging an arm around both Sirius and Regulus. "Finally put those greasy Slytherin's in their place!"

"I'm a Slytherin!" Regulus protested.

"But you're not a dick hole" Sirius pointed out.

Regulus laughed once again.

After lunch they all headed back to the common room.

"So, someone has a special day tomorrow" Regulus grinned from where he sat on the opposite side of Remus purposely away from Sirius even though he really would love a cuddle right now.

"Oh yeah, Sirius turns eighteen" James grinned. "Happy birthday mate!"

"One of the first seventh years to do it" Remus nodded.

"Legal too!" Peter waggled his eyebrows in a way they all knew he copied from Sirius himself.

Regulus found himself blushing a tiny little bit, he would turn seventeen in February but he'd already had sex with his brother a few times.

"Anything you want to do in particular?" James asked with a grin. "Of course we'll be having a little party for you…."

Sirius threw his head back and barked a laugh. "Oh I sincerely look forward to it, James!"

That night when they curled up in bed, Regulus was thinking of ways he could please his brother tomorrow on his birthday.

"Hopefully we'll get some alone time" Regulus purred.

"Hopefully we will" Sirius chuckled. "If not we may just have to be super quiet in the morning or at night" he smirked. "Think you can manage that?"

"Of course I can!" Regulus grinned.

"Are you sure? You're a bit of a screamer" Sirius teased watching his brother's face go up in flames.

"Shush, you!" Regulus said batting him very lightly on the chest.

"I love you really, Regulus" Sirius breathed.

"I love you too, Sirius" Regulus smiled leaning in for a soft, sweet kiss.

They settled down not long after that and drifted off to sleep in each other's arms….

….

The next morning Sirius was woken by a pair of warm lips on his neck, supple, pale, naked thighs sliding between his own and a pair of satin-smooth hands sliding under his t-shirt. He moaned softly.

"Reg?"

"Happy eighteenth birthday, Sirius" Regulus purred sexily.

"Wow…." Sirius grinned his eyes cracking open slightly. "You're so hot"

Regulus gave the tiniest of moans knowing he had to be quiet, he moulded himself into his brother's body form nuzzling the side of his neck gently and taking one of Sirius' hands to rest it on his own backside for a squeeze.

Sirius was grinning excitedly but still rather sleepily. "This is the best birthday ever!"

"It's only just started" Regulus winked.

Their playful fumbling didn't last much longer however because Remus poked his head through the curtain.

"James is about to burst in" he whispered then grinned. "Happy birthday, Sirius!" he said very loudly.

The boys separated enough for it not to look suspicious to the others.

Sirius felt slightly surprised that Remus was protecting them but grinned anyway when the curtains were thrust open by said Remus and James appeared holding a pile of presents.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" he beamed dropping them on top of Sirius.

The boy laughed still smiling and sat up rubbing his tired eyes.

Regulus sat up too.

"Thanks, James" Sirius grinned tearing open the wrappings on his present. Inside was a t-shirt with a rather crude slogan on it Can you believe it? I'm Eighteen that's like sexteen times a billion!

Regulus couldn't say he was overly impressed by this as other people would be leering at Sirius in…. that way….

"Thanks" Sirius grinned. "I'll wear it today" he said tearing off the wrappings to the next present from James which was a book of hexes for the mischievous.

He opened Remus' present and it was a box filled with various sweets, BertieBotts every flavour beans, four chocolate frogs, a small luxury box of chocolates, bubble gum to make you levitate, white chocolate wands, Fizzing Whizzbee's and such.

"Thanks a lot, Remus, it'll take me a lifetime to eat all of these!" Sirius chuckled smiling up into his friend's face.

Remus just smiled pleasantly and nodded. Over the past couple of months he'd grown accustomed to Sirius and Regulus' relationship even if they hadn't told James and Peter yet or at least one of them it was okay for now, he understood it was a really big deal and that there were things people found difficult. Sirius and Regulus being in a relationship together was one of those taboo things people shouldn't talk about.

Peter had gotten Sirius a toy broomstick that whizzed about the room when he blew on it emitting little colourful streams of smoke and Regulus pulled out three presents. The first was a black stuffed very fluffy bunny rabbit with grey eyes and a green boy around his neck. Sirius grinned knowing exactly why Regulus had chosen this, Sirius always called him his cuddly little bunny which always made Regulus blush madly so now he really did have a cuddly little bunny he could call Regulus and they'd sort that out.

"Aww, he's cute" Sirius grinned shooting Regulus a brief, knowing look.

Regulus laughed. "Thought you'd like him, you always did like bunnies"

Sirius nodded eagerly. "I love little fuzzy, cuddle bunnies" he winked cheekily before opening the next present. The second present was a pair of those Muggle jogging bottoms Sirius liked so much, Regulus was slowly starting to see the appeal seeing as Sirius had shoved him in a few pairs of his old ones he was outgrowing very quickly, they were in fact, super comfortable, much more so than Wizarding Robes their mother tried to make Sirius in particular wear because she knew she had difficulty exercising control over him.

The third and final present was a large box of the finest chocolates.

Sirius thanked his brother with a hug and kiss on the cheek casually before they proceeded to get up, dressed and ready for breakfast.

After breakfast, Sirius and Regulus headed back up to the dormitory but unfortunately the other's followed them.

Remus kept shooting them suspicious, knowing looks. It was obvious that he knew they wanted to get it on and Sirius suspected that the boy was probably quite pleased that they couldn't do that as they knew although he was now used to the idea, he still didn't fully agree with incest.

"I have to say that I'm slightly surprised that the two of you are still together" Remus commented as he sat down on the end of their bed.

"Did you think we were breaking up or something?" Sirius quirked an eyebrow.

"No faith in us?" it was Regulus this time.

"Not like that" Remus went on shaking his head and fidgeting with his nails. "That you're young and you're still together even though you're siblings of blood relation, I'm just surprised that you were serious about this"

"Remus, we've been close all summer, we started a thing literally as soon as we came back to school" Sirius explained. "We're not idiots, I'm eighteen and soon he will be seventeen, we're not tiny children, we're not twelve we are WELL OVER the legal age of consent!"

"I know, calm down" Remus said waving his arms to simmer them both down as he looked nervously between them. "Don't get so offended by everything I say, alright?"

"Fine" Sirius sighed reaching over to slap Remus playfully on the leg. "So, seen anyone that takes your fancy?"

"Yeah" Regulus laughed. "Anyone you want to put your snake in their hole?"

Remus started blushing. "No! and that is so crude, Regulus"

Both brothers burst into fits of laughter.

"Oh, Moony, it's so funny to get you all red and angry like this" Sirius winked playfully. "You're Prefect, you could put us in a naughty detention for that"

Remus gasped, scandalised and blushed even more giving Sirius a playful shove. "Sirius!"

"I'm just playing with you, Remus" Sirius winked.

Regulus started laughing and Remus shot him a very dirty look.

"You're such a pervert!"

"Reg, is my perverted behaviour hot?" Sirius asked casually.

"I think so" Regulus nodded. "So, affirmative!"

Remus rolled his eyes. This was starting to get silly and if they didn't stop his cheeks may just explode with shame.

The rest of the day was spent hanging around and after dinner finally came a bit of a party in the common room.

People had gotten a little more dressed up, including Regulus whom was wearing a pair of his nice robes his mother had bought for him over the summer.

Regulus was quite enjoying the party, walking around, people weren't really bothering about him too much, he'd chatted with Pettigrew, the boy wasn't overly intelligent but he was alright he wasn't bad to talk to so Regulus had no complaints there.

"So, how are you finding Gryffindor?" James asked as he stood leaning against the homework table folding his arms over his chest with his hazel eyes surveying the scene.

Regulus knew he was scouting for Lily.

"Oh, it's better than I'd thought but people from my own house are really hating it" Regulus said slowly. "I'm still fully Slytherin but I'm starting to really enjoy being up here, I feel safe, you know…."

James gave a small laugh. "A snake among the lions" he sighed. "Well, who wouldn't feel save surrounded by all of this bravery and these fierce contenders for battle?"

Regulus chuckled and nodded slowly.

"Hey, look at Sirius, he's having a good time" James grinned nodding over to where Sirius was standing.

The bottom fell out of Regulus' stomach when his silver eyes fell on his brother being flirted with by some Gryffindor slut. Sickening rage washed over him when he saw that.

"He might even get lucky tonight wearing that lucky shirt I bought for him" James nodded again with a smirk.

Regulus said nothing as James downed the rest of his drink and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Well I'm off to go and try my luck with Evans" he grinned nodding over to the girl.

Regulus flashed him a weak, brief smile as he sauntered off leaving the Slytherin standing there swelling up with rage.

The Slytherin wasn't sure what to do, if he approached Sirius all aggressive and possessive people might suspect something but on the other hand if he ignored it and didn't make an approach then the girl would be all over Sirius like troll warts on a prostitute.

Regulus stood watching for a little time longer as Remus came over.

"Just noticed what Sirius is doing…." He said sympathetically.

"Yeah…." Regulus replied averting his eyes from them trying to hide the hurt in his voice from Remus.

"I'm sorry, Regulus" Remus said sympathetically.

"No you aren't, you hated Sirius and I being together from the start" Regulus said bitterly.

"Regulus" Remus groaned. "I know you're still a person with feelings"

"Yes, I am, and my brother obviously doesn't care for that tonight seeing as he's busy with some skank" Regulus' eyes narrowed dangerously.

Remus pursed his lips a little.

"I'm going to bed" Regulus said finally turning and heading off up the dormitory stairs leaving the party.

He stormed into the bathroom glaring at his own reflection in the mirror before he washed up and went back into the dormitory to change.

As soon as he stripped down the door opened and he leapt covering himself his cheeks catching fire. When he realised it was Sirius his face instantly drained of its healthy colour.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Sirius smirked shrugging out of his robes and spelling his hands thoroughly clean as he approached the bed standing behind Regulus.

The boy glared before grabbing his nightshirt and yanking it over his head.

"Ooh, hard to get?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows playfully.

"I'm not in the mood, Sirius" Regulus said coolly as he slipped between the sheets.

Sirius pouted. "Why not? You've got a thong on" he pointed out.

Regulus blushed just the tiniest little bit pink before he reached under the covers wriggling around for a second, he tossed the thong out onto the end of the freshly changed bed.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Okay, what's wrong?" he asked sitting down.

"You were flirting with some slut" said Regulus.

"Regulus, no, I wasn't" Sirius chuckled softly. "We were talking about our Charms homework and she was obviously into me"

Regulus wrinkled his nose with disgust.

"I told her I'm seeing someone really special and I'm not interested, didn't you see me walk away from her?"

"No"

"Ask Remus, he came over and heard what we were talking about" Sirius spoke very calmly.

Regulus looked up into his face and tried to read, Sirius was actually being very open and Regulus saw nothing but honesty in his big brother's eyes. "Really?"

"Yes" Sirius laughed. "Do you honestly think I would cheat on you?"

"No…." Regulus admitted. Now he felt really stupid.

Sirius laughed again. "There you go" he smiled. "So how about I get in with you and we have a cuddle before sleep?"

"How about" said Regulus climbing out from under the covers and yanking the curtains closed before he pulled his black nightshirt up over his head and tossed it aside with the thong lounging there in all his naked glory. "You fuck my brains out" he smirked playfully.

Sirius' mouth was hanging open and his eyes roamed hungrily over Regulus' sexy, slender, pale frame. There was nothing he wanted more right now than to squeeze that soft, beautiful, immaculate skin of his. "Yes…" he breathed.

They made love and it was beautiful, Regulus felt angry with himself for thinking bad of Sirius and allowed himself to be taken, to be claimed twice then. He smiled to himself as they were doing it, joined together as one.

When they were finished, Sirius curled up against his brother casting a quick charm to clean them both up of the sticky cum and lubricant. "That was amazing, Regulus!" he panted slightly his eyes dazed and filled with love.

Regulus smiled and snuggled up into his brother's arms. "I love you, Sirius"

"I love you too, Reg" Sirius breathed.

They fell asleep with smiles on their faces that evening, all silly thoughts from earlier banished from their heads. Sirius was honest and that was all that mattered.

The next mission for them was….

When would they tell James and Peter about their gay relationship? James didn't even know Sirius swung for blokes entirely, Sirius was certain the boy did not believe it let alone he was going after his own brother….

….


	10. Remus

Over a week had passed since the incident with the party and it was now November thirtieth. The grounds were getting even colder, the people were getting even more excited for Christmas and Sirius had STILL not said anything to James or Peter about his relationship with Regulus.

Much to Sirius' distaste, however, Regulus had sent a message home to their mother explaining that both he and Sirius would be returning home to enjoy Christmas together with their family and he promised that Sirius would also be on his best behaviour when he came just to sweeten the deal knowing that this mother may not take too kindly to it in reality, Sirius was, after all, mostly disowned but still their biological son no matter how much they despised the thought of it or how much shame he brought to their family but if Regulus insisted then Sirius was fine to be there, they trusted their youngest son, their true heir.

"Three weeks" Sirius sighed as he lounged on their bed that afternoon with Remus sitting on his own bed reading through his homework. "Until doomsday"

"Don't be so moody, Sirius" Regulus chuckled softly. "I'm sure it will be just lovely"

"Prove it"

"Well..." said Regulus. "I can't but I can try and we can just make the best of it" he smirked a little. "And besides, you'll have me with you and we can hang out and... have some fun together" he flashed his brother a naughty little wink.

"Ohh, kinky" Sirius grinned.

Remus shot them a dirty look.

"Oh come on, Moony, you need to calm your little flat man tittys" Sirius smirked.

Regulus started to grin and they both watched closely as a smile twitched in the corners of the boy's mouth. "HA!" he beamed excitedly. "You think we're funny, don't you"

"You're funny but that doesn't mean you're in the right and you still haven't followed up on your end of the bargain and I'm starting to get impatient" Remus said quickly resting his book down and laying on his side just so he could stare at them.

"I think someone wants to come over here and join us" Sirius spoke very slowly.

Remus averted his eyes. "Stop being a pervert"

"Oh come on, Moony, you know you want to have a little play and why not? You're seventeen now, you're more than legal and more than overdue for a little bit of bed play" Sirius grinned playfully.

Remus hesitated and blushed madly. "No means no"

"No means yes" Regulus chuckled softly. "Come on, all you have to do is have a cuddle with us" he grinned happily.

"Since when did you want me intruding in your little brotherly relationship there?" Remus frowned confusedly. "Because last time I checked, that was pretty new"

Sirius and Regulus looked to one another and started laughing.

"Oh come on, Remus, the hints for the past couple of weeks, you're keeping our secret and we're keeping yours" Regulus winked playfully. "I'm also very sure that Sirius here agrees with me on everything I say"

"Yeah he's got that right" Sirius nodded his agreement. "I love him"

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes. "You're not going to stop pestering me about it, are you?"

"Nah" Sirius grinned playfully again.

Remus was quiet for a moment. "You'll have to make me"

Sirius and Regulus glanced to one another and grinned. "Okay" said Regulus. "Sirius, you know what to do" he chuckled playfully his eyes falling half-lidded.

Remus suddenly looked worried as Sirius hopped off of his own bed placing a light kiss on his brother's cheek before he got up and made his way over to Remus' bed. The werewolf lay there looking confused and yelped when Sirius lifted him up and carried him over to his own bed. He placed the boy down in the middle and hurried to slip in beside of him with Regulus on the other, both grinning like mad sharks.

"W-what are you going to do to me?" Remus stammered nervously glancing from one to the other as they snuggled in closer putting their arms around him to touch one another.

"Just having a cuddle" said Regulus. "You trust us, right?"

"At this moment in time I'm really not sure" Remus said quirking an eyebrow.

Sirius chuckled softly catching the blonde boy's attention. "Remus, we're not going to hurt or rape you, we're just hugging you" he smiled gently. "I promise"

Remus looked into those pretty silver eyes, swallowed and nodded. "Okay, I believe you" he said quietly.

Sirius and Regulus both smiled warmly to him.

"Good" said Regulus.

The three of them lay there together for a little while and slowly, very slowly, Remus began to relax.

"So how does it feel being sandwiched between two hot guys?" Sirius asked casually.

Remus nearly choked. "Excuse me?!"

"Have you never had a fantasy about being between two people like this? Or having sex with them? Or just snuggling?" Regulus asked curiously.

Remus' face turned red as he stared at the younger boy in disbelief. "Regulus!" he gasped.

Regulus looked to Sirius, grinned and then laughed. "Don't be such a prude, it's only a question and I'm curious. So, have you ever thought or dreamed about something hot like this?" he asked raising his eyebrows enough to make Remus groan in absolute shame.

"Yes once or twice but what teenage guy hasn't?" he sighed closing his eyes to avoid their facial expressions. He hated to be judged.

"That's very true, Moony" Sirius smiled gently.

"Please stop talking to me like I'm silly or a child" Remus groaned. "I might not have sexual experience like you but that doesn't make me an idiot"

"We never said it did and besides we're only talking very lightly to you" said Regulus in that same tone of voice.

"I'm getting up-"

"No, stay" Sirius chuckled in his normal voice. "We'll stop, won't we, Reg?"

Regulus nodded quickly. "Course" he smiled warmly.

They lay there for some more time, Sirius and Regulus both cuddling in closer to Remus until he was literally jammed in between them and couldn't escape.

"Why are you doing this?" the Werewolf asked finally.

"Doing what?" Sirius blinked very confusedly.

"Cuddling up to me like this, pulling me into bed with you and acting all weird about it" Remus said slowly. "I don't know what your aim is or at least not your angle"

"We like you, Remus" said Regulus. "You're keeping our secret for us and we're grateful and we see you alone a lot so we want to give you a cuddle, there's not harm in cuddling and snuggling with a friend, is there?"

"I guess not..." Remus spoke slowly.

After about two hours and Remus had drifted off to sleep, Sirius pulled the bed curtains closed when he heard the door creaking open. James and Peter had returned.

"Why close the curtains?" James still called through to them but obviously he had not seen what was going on.

"Regulus is sleeping" said Sirius, it wasn't exactly a lie, his brother was asleep behind Remus with his arm draped over the boy and resting against Sirius' hip.

"Oh, okay" said James. "No trouble then, where's Remus?"

"Library studying I think" Sirius said back automatically. Okay, so that might have been a lie but he did it to protect Remus because if James knew they were snuggled up in bed together like this it would probably cause a little friction between all of them.

"Okay, we're going to go for a fly, be back after dinner, okay?"

"Sure" Sirius called back and listened as the two of them changed and quickly left the room again. He sighed softly with relief. What was this all coming to?

...

Sunday afternoon arrived (just the nexy day anyway) and they hadn't really mentioned the little snuggle session yesterday afternoon. Remus had woken up before dinner, went down with them and acted like nothing weird was going on even if he did catch their eyes awkwardly on and off but that night he went and slept in his own bed with his curtains drawn around him and his back to them.

"I think we should tell James" Regulus said quietly as he and Regulus walked alone down by the lake wrapped up heavily in their winter clothing.

Sirius swallowed. "He knows I'm gay but he doesn't know a thing about you, he hadn't accepted any of it fully either..."

"Which is why we should just take the plunge soon, I have a feeling Remus is feeling awkward and if he push at him it's only going to make him so much worse and feel way too awkward so he won't like us for it" Regulus replied walking a little closer to his brother so their arms were just brushing even though both of them had their arms tucked into their thick, padded pockets.

"I'm scared" said Sirius. "But I still agree with you, babe, I know what we're doing isn't natural but it happens, all over the world and we can't have babies together like this and we're not diseased or hurting anyone so why is this wrong?"

"I don't know" Regulus sighed shaking his head slowly. "I think it's just one of those subjects you can't really talk about"

"Love is love, if it were a man and a woman it would be a vastly different story because they can get pregnant and have kids and that really would be sick and wrong but we can't and we won't" said Sirius again. "We're just very close brothers in a relationship and in love with each other, what's wrong with being together?"

Regulus shook his head again and shrugged a little. "Don't know to be honest" he said slowly. "Is there anything you want to do today?"

"Not really, Sunday's are always kind of boring"

"You said it" Regulus flashed him a playful grin. "Oh I can't wait until Christmas when the snow falls heavy on the grounds and the sun twinkles in the misty sky and we wake up to loads of presents under the bright tree on Christmas morning!"

"Don't tell me you still believe in Santa Claus..." Sirius said shooting him just one of those looks.

Regulus laughed and batted him playfully on the chest. "Shut up"

"So tell me, what are we going to do next year?" Sirius asked curiously resting an arm casually around his brother's shoulders igniting those sparks within the boy.

"You mean when the school term comes to an end and you're in your final year..." Regulus said quietly. "Well, you LEAVE school for the first time"

"Aren't you planning to come with me?" Sirius asked quirking one fine dark eyebrow in confusion.

Regulus stared. "Y-you want me to run away with you and not come back to school?" he breathed softly.

Sirius smiled gently and nodded. "That's what I would like, but I understand if you don't want to and you'd rather stay on and finish your education, either way I totally respect your choice"

Regulus was quiet for a few moments listening to the sounds of the frozen gravel crunching beneath their feet and the occasional flap of an owls wings as it soared on past to the owlery or to deliver someone a message/ letter.

"I'll run away with you" he said finally. "I'm going to do it, we'll be together and we'll get an apartment and jobs and live a normal life but you have to promise me something first" he spoke slowly without looking up at his brother.

"Anything" Sirius breathed.

"You have to swear to me you won't join any secret organisations, you WON'T join in with that Order of the Phoenix shit and you won't go around trying to be an untrained auror, I won't have you risking your life for any of this" Regulus said slowly.

At first Sirius was quiet then he nodded slowly. "Okay, I promise" he breathed and Regulus looked into his face only to realise it was filled with true, genuine honesty.

"I love you, Sirius" Regulus breathed.

"I love you too" Sirius smiled back, he glanced up and down the track then leaned in and gently brushed his lips over Regulus'. "Is there anywhere in particular you want to live?"

"Somewhere nice and fun and private, I want to be rich and we can have a huge house and tons of stuff but I have a feeling that's a long way off"

Sirius barked a laugh. "You can be so funny sometimes but I sure wouldn't mind it too"

"It's kind of where we came from so we expect something similar" Regulus nodded slowly.

"I guess that's also very true" Sirius grinned playfully.

They continued walking along the track laughing for a few more minutes until Regulus began to shiver.

"Hey, it's getting cold we should head inside" Sirius smiled warmly.

"I'd like that" Regulus breathed and kissed his brother on the cheek before they turned on their heels and made their way back up to the castle.

Seeing as it was now December first, the decorations were going up, the ghosts were singing and humming Christmas tunes and the whole buzz around the castle was growing forever more excitable.

"Let's head up to the common room" Sirius said when he spotted Regulus' ex-Slytherin friends watching them all very closely as they passed as though they were right about due to start a fight with the two boys or some other pointless shit like that.

"That sounds like fun, we can lounge by the fire and get warmed up and nice and relaxed" Regulus grinned.

Sirius laughed. "Anything for you, bro"

This made Regulus very happy indeed.

...

A few more days had passed and the castle was still the same as it was on Sunday. Everyone was excitable and somewhat relaxed too. The mock exams were approaching, the end of term was getting closer by the second and people were on edge about the whole thing too.

"Two whole weeks off" James sighed when they sat down in the common room that evening. "It's going to be so much fun"

Sirius and Regulus exchanged glances.

"We're going home for Christmas" said Regulus very quietly. "Sirius is going to make things up with mum and dad, aren't you, Sirius?" he said shooting his brother a look.

Sirius smirked then sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I am, for your sake not mine though" he said looking to Regulus once again.

"What?! You're not spending your last Christmas here in the castle?!" James said shooting onto the edge of his seat and gripping the armrests of the beaten-up old red velvet chair tightly.

"No I am not" said Sirius. "I'm making my brother happy for once in his life"

"But we could have had so much fun!" James protested.

Regulus shot the boy a furious look, James was obviously trying to sway Sirius into staying anf then Regulus would be in shit with his family for not bringing his older brother home and

"Yeah and there will be parties!" Peter argued.

"There will be parties at home" Regulus jumped in quickly. "Really expensive ones and we're old enough to drink now, he can get drunk too if he wants"

James looked annoyed.

"Come on, Prongs, just let me have some fun with Reg"

"You've been having fun with him for ages now, when are you going to start being a proper Marauder again?" James said rather impatiently leaning right back in his chair once again.

Sirius hesitated a moment before he sighed. "We all have to grow up at some point, James..."

And with that, James got up and left.

"I think you should talk to him soon" Remus said very quietly watching Peter get up to follow after James whom had gone up into the dormitory to sulk like a child about this matter.

Sirius sighed softly and wrung his hands out anxiously. "Now?" he asked looking to Remus again and raising his eyebrows in a manner as though he were hoping Remus would say no.

But he was wrong.

"Yes, now" Remus nodded slowly. "I'll come with you and I'm sure Regulus will be there for you but this is only right, it's only right you tell him before the two of you end up pushed apart by secrets and by lies, you don't want that to happen, do you?"

"No!" Sirius gasped slightly his eyes widening dramatically.

Remus smiled weakly and nodded. "Then you both know what you have to do right now, you have to tell him and get this sorted out once and for all..."

Regulus and Sirius exchanged looks, took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Okay" said Regulus. "We'll do it" he took Sirius' hand and they got up from the sofa. Remus hopped up after them and followed them up the dormitory stairs.

They stopped outside of their bedroom shakily looking to one another for a moment.

Regulus reached up to touch the side of his brother's face gently, swallowed and nodded. "Everything will be okay, Sirius, you'll see" he breathed.

Sirius smiled back and nodded quickly. "Yeah, it will"

"Ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready, are you?"

"More than" Regulus said quietly.

They paused for another moment before Sirius opened the door and the three of them headed inside.

James was sitting on his bed looking through a magazine, or looking AT a magazine rather as he didn't actually seem to be paying it much attention. He refused to look up when they walked in even when Peter made a strange noise of confusion when his watery blue eyes fell on the boys holding hands.

"Umm, James?" Sirius began slowly.

"What?" the bespectacled boy asked coolly.

"We sort of have something we really need to talk to you about..." Sirius began slowly.

James shot them a suspicious glare. "What is it?" he asked coolly.

Remus looked to them and swallowed, he felt nervous for them.

Sirius and Regulus made their way over to their bed, changed and sat down comfortably next to each other staring worriedly at Sirius. "Okay, so there's this thing..."

"For Merlin's sake, Sirius! Just spit it out!" James said slamming his magazine down on his bed impatiently.

Sirius hesitated for a moment before glancing to Regulus, taking a deep breath and saying "Regulus and I have been seeing each other..."

At first James just stared at them blankly which turned to confusion and finally to horror. "Y-you've been seeing each other? As in... _seeing_ each other?!" he gasped softly.

Peter's shocked face turned on them and it almost made Regulus winced, almost...

"Yes, we have" Sirius said hanging his head and picking up Regulus' hand to gently stroke the back of it with his thumbs.

There was an awful deadpan of silence as Peter stared, Remus went and sat down on his own bed very awkwardly and James sat gawking at them with his mouth hanging open like some scarily humanlike statue or one of those mental wax figurines that frighten anyone that passes them.

"I know what you're thinking and don't judge us..." Sirius said slowly finally mustering the courage to look over at James. "It's not like how you think..."

"Don't judge you?" James snickered. "Don't JUDGE you?!" he started to laugh much louder with disbelief. Like a maniac really. "How can you tell me this and ask me not to judge you, are you out of your fucking minds or something?!"

"No but-" Regulus was cut off.

"How long?" James demanded sharply.

Remus pursed his lips and continued to stare at them neutrally.

"A few months" Sirius sighed awkwardly. "We grew closer over the summer and these things DO happen, James, more commonly than you realise, there are millions of people out there that do this and what we're doing isn't... normal but it isn't evil either, we're both male, we cannot make babies or marry, we aren't spreading diseases, war, poverty, we aren't snatching people's children, so many millions of people do this and it doesn't harm them, we're both well over the legal age of consent, everything has been mutual and together we are safe from disease, rape, harm and things far more serious than two brothers sharing a little snog, tons of kids practice kissing on their brother or sister or cousin or whatever"

"Cousins can actually marry..." Remus pointed out quietly.

"I don't do this!" James spat. "This is disgusting and unbelievable!"

"Is this what all gay people do?" Peter blinked stupidly.

Sirius and Regulus suddenly became very annoyed.

"No!" Regulus snarled viciously. "Don't judge everyone by us, we aren't hurting anyone and we aren't destroying lives!"

"No you're not but you're sleeping with your own brother!" James retorted. "Why? Just why?"

"Why, what?" Sirius asked confusedly.

"Why the hell would you want to do something like this?!" James snapped gruffly. "Why would you want to be with let alone _sleep_ with your own brother?!" he damn near demanded.

"Because... I love him, he comforts me, supports me, he's kind to me, he's safe, he's lovely, he's fun, we get along so well, we've been through so much together, we share so much"

"Yeah, like blood" James rolled his eyes.

"How do you know I wasn't adopted" Regulus said quickly. "I look like Sirius but not entirely, even my own parents say that"

James hesitated a moment. "You both have black hair and grey eyes and white skin, of course you're related"

"We might not be though" Regulus went on. "My mother could never get pregnant again after me and she NEEDED to produce at least two children because she needs an heir and a spare, one to fall back on if something went wrong, you know?"

James swallowed nervously. "It doesn't matter, blood, marriage, adoption, you're still brothers and that is wrong!"

"And you're annoying and arrogant and sometimes a real arsehole to people for no reason but you don't see me screaming abuse like that at you when I just told you a massive secret" Sirius said coolly.

James pursed his lips in anger. "Did you know about this?" he asked turning on Remus.

Remus' blue eyes flickered to him but he said nothing.

"Did you!?"

"I'll bet he did, look at his face!" Peter laughed playfully and Sirius shot him a warning, dirty look.

"Don't start, Peter..." Sirius said coolly and Regulus rolled his eyes with deep impatience.

"Shut the fuck up about Peter!" James snapped glaring all around the room before his hazel eyes settled once again on Remus. "I'll ask you again, Moons, DID YOU KNOW ABOUT SIRIUS AND REGULUS?!"

Remus swallowed and looked down fidgeting with his hands in his lap. "Yes..." he spoke so quietly James had to strain to catch what he had said.

In a flash the boy was on his feet, he raced across the dormitory before anyone could expect what was about to happen and grabbed a hold of Remus by the hair yanking him from the bed and putting his knee into his face.

Remus cried out in panic.

"HOW COULD YOU!?" he roared in anger belting Remus one again. "HOW COULD YOU KEEP THIS A SECRET FROM ME?! YOU KNEW! YOU KNEW! YOU FUCKING KNEW ABOUT THEM! I'D EXPECT THIS FROM SIRIUS BUT NOT FROM YOU, YOU FILTHY TRAITOR!" he screamed.

Peter jumped up and ran and slapped Remus across the back.

Regulus snarled with frustration, leaped from the bed with Sirius behind him and punched Peter so hard he fell and hit the wooden decking HARD.

Sirius managed to grab a hold of James and pin him back whilst Regulus peeled those fingers out of Remus' long, beautifully blonde hair.

"Let go of him!" Regulus hissed in frustration, James was strong. "He doesn't deserve this!"

"What, is he sleeping with you too? Whore?" James spat viciously as Sirius fought with him to drag him back and away from his friend.

Regulus pulled his wand out pointing it to Peter whom promptly dropped his own wand and lay back down on the floor motionless. "Pussy" the Slytherin said quietly.

Peter shot him a dirty look and shuffled away backwards on the floor and out of the door, he sat in the corridor watching them though.

Regulus turned and pocketed his wand putting his arms around Remus. "Let me see" he said gently trying to ignore the sounds of Sirius and James fighting like a pair of savage pack wolves.

"No, no it really hurts!" Remus whimpered still bent double with his hands covering his face. Regulus could see tears and blood dripping onto the floor and he pursed his lips nervously.

"Remus, you need to let me take a look and see if anything is broken or needs medical attention..."

Remus shook his head again and let out a soft whimper of pain.

"I'll hex you..."

Remus removed his hands very slowly and allowed Regulus to guide him so he was standing up straighter. THANKFULLY he was taller than the younger Slytherin male so Regulus could see into his face.

"Shh, it's okay, you're just shocked" Regulus swallowed and smiled gently. It didn't look good. "It's worse because you're really shaken up about what happened, want me to try and fix it?"

Remus let out a very shaky breath and attempted to nod wincing badly enough his eyes flew shut in the process.

"FAGGOT" James snarled at Sirius.

"Fuck off, James!"

"Come on" Regulus spoke gently leading Remus into the bathroom and carefully shutting the door behind them. He caught a glimpse of Peter scurrying back in to help James and Sirius whom seemed to be cooling off with the scrapping a little bit by now. Regulus knew he should be helping his brother but it wouldn't be safe, James would knock him out and he knew that and Sirius would be really upset if Regulus got injured again so instead he would help to protect Remus from harms way.

Regulus washed his hands and took Remus' flannel soaking it under the warm tap before he began to gently dab at the boy's face.

Remus sank down slowly onto the blue fluffy toilet seat cover so he was easier for Regulus to get to as he stood mopping up the blood that had streamed all down his face and splattered onto his clothing.

"That was a pretty rough fight, huh?" Regulus said slowly after a moment or two of pure silence.

"More like just a battering for me..." Remus said awkwardly, it sounded like the inside of his nose was a little swollen up.

Regulus sighed sadly. "You didn't know he was going to do that, none of us did, we got there quick enough though" he smiled gently.

"Thank you for helping me you really didn't need to do that"

"What are friends for, eh?" Regulus laughed lightly. Best to make light of a situation like this though...

Remus smiled gently to him. "You realise that a few months ago you would have been repulsed by the idea of being friends with someone like me let alone actually cleaning up the blood of someone who is a half"

Regulus just continued to smile without faltering. "You are a nice person and I like you and my brother likes you too so there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to get along, besides, you should join us sometime"

"What?" Remus blinked confusedly as Regulus set to work feeling over his face for any broken bones or overly sensitive areas that could be fractures etcetera...

"You know" Regulus shrugged casually. "In bed"

Remus was gaping. "You want me to sleep with the pair of you?!" he gasped.

"If you want to, it's fine" Regulus smiled very lightly once again. "Sirius and I have talked about it, I wouldn't ask if we didn't like you that way"

Remus was shocked. "But I'm still a virgin..."

"You don't have to have full sex we can just play" Regulus winked cheekily and turned to pick up some ointment to dab on wiggling his bottom as he walked. "Besides, there's no harm in it, we're clean and you don't seem to be going after anyone else on your own so what have you got to lose anyway?"

Remus hesitated big time. "Can I at least think about something like this?"

"Yeah of course you can" Regulus laughed playfully. "I'm not just going to drag you into bed with us if you don't want to or you're not sure, you can come and sleep in there with us one night and see how comfortable you feel" he smiled brightly.

"I guess that would be okay" Remus nodded slowly as Regulus dabbed some of the cream on his cheeks and then turned to pick up the anti-bruise potion.

"Good! This will help with the bruising, I can't promise it will alleviate it entirely but still..." Regulus said as he popped the cork and began to massage it into Remus' face very gently. Probably his nose and spreading through his cheeks and around his eyes and lips would be very swollen and bruised horribly without it in the morning.

"He knows how much I suffer at the full moon with pains as well and-" Remus cut himself short when Regulus suddenly stopped what he was doing.

"What did you say?" Regulus asked in a slow, tender voice.

"Nothing" said Remus shaking his head. "It's nothing"

"What do you mean by nothing?" Regulus blinked confusedly.

Remus hesitated a moment and decided not to say anything.

"Are you a... Werewolf?" Regulus whispered so softly Remus was sure nobody could possibly hear them speaking.

Remus swallowed and nodded. "I-I thought you already knew, I'd have thought Sirius would have told you..."

"I don't recall it" said Regulus slowly continuing to dab onto Remus' face.

"You don't... mind... do you?" Remus asked now suddenly feeling extremely awkward about their little situation they had going on here.

"No" said Regulus rather simply. "I'm just... surprised is all"

"It's not exactly common or public knowledge..." Remus flushed a little and winced at the fact that it hurt.

"I'm not going to tell people if that's what you're worried about" said Regulus.

"Thank you" Remus whispered, he knew better than to try and argue about his case. He didn't want to upset Regulus with it, finding out his secret could be a pretty horrifying deal for anyone because Werewolves were generally shunned in their society. "I really appreciate it"

"What are friends for?" Regulus flashed him a smile then stepped back to admire his handiwork. "There, all done, you look good as new"

Remus grinned to him and stood up gazing at his reflection in the mirror. He didn't look half bad at all considering he's just had his face smashed in and it was still sort of throbbing.

"I don't think there's anything broken or concussion, obviously, or permanent damage so your pretty face will be back together in no time" the pure-blood smiled gently giving Remus a tiny nod.

"Thanks so much" Remus grinned moving to give Regulus a little hug.

The door opened and Sirius made his way inside to wash his hands and check out his own reflection. "Oh good, you got him clean" he grinned glancing to Remus' face. "And you havne't done a bad job on him either, you should become a healer, Regulus"

"That's what I was just about to say" Remus grinned playfully.

Regulus found his cheeks turning rosy and he giggled like a child. "Shush, you bad people!"

Remus just smiled gently to him. "So how is everything with James?" his asked his voice suddenly taking on a more serious and worried tone. Yeah, the fight, of course how could one forget about it?

Regulus swallowed...

"More settled now" said Sirius with a sigh. "He's calmed down but he's not happy, Peter went to bed and James is getting changed right now, threw me out of the room and everything because he's paranoid I might try and check out his arse or something for some unknown, strange reason"

"Ignorance about gay people" Remus nodded slowly. "They think all gay people want to have sex with everyone they meet of the same sex"

"That's not true" said Sirius. "I wish people would see us differently"

"Remus has agreed to sleep in bed with us one night" Regulus chimed in.

Sirius turned around grinning from one to the other and back again. "Well, well, well, this is going to be fun"

"Not like that, you pervert!" Remus laughed giving Sirius a playful push. "No, just sleeping as in falling unconscious and dreaming and resting your body, not bumming" he added with a small wink.

"For now" Sirius winked back making Remus blush madly.

They remained in the bathroom for a little while longer before slipping into their dormitory again and getting into bed.

"Will he tell anyone?" Regulus asked quietly as they passed James' bed.

"No!" the boy called out to them and Regulus and Sirius exchanged looks. "On one condition and I will only support this if you do it"

Regulus frowned as he and Sirius climbed into bed. Remus had already changed into his pyjamas and beaten them to it propping himself up much higher tonight so he could breathe through his nose without putting so much pressure on it thanks to the fact that it was still swollen inside.

"What condition?" the Slytherin asked quietly when he and Sirius settled down under their bed covers and behind closed, warm curtains snuggling up together sleepily.

"On the condition that..." Sirius trailed off slowly chewing on his bottom lip.

"That...?" Regulus pressed softly.

"That we find out whether you're adopted or not" Sirius swallowed.

Regulus' eyes widened. "Is he serious about that?"

"Mm" Sirius nodded once. "He is very serious about it, I'm sure other people would be too"

Regulus sighed. "What are we going to do?"

"We're just going to have to do some digging when we get home at Christmas" said Sirius rather slowly. "I dunno, I can't really think of anything else we can do to be honest..."

Regulus sighed softly and cuddled in closer. "Let's not talk about that for tonight, let's just be happy now that this is all done and over with"

"I agree, Regulus, I agree" Sirius breathed softly pressing his lips to his brother's. "I love you so fucking much, babe"

"I love you too, Sirius, I love you too" Regulus whispered back softly.

And with that thought in mind, they drifted off to sleep...

...

A week went by and Thursday December twelfth rolled around.

James had no mentioned the little incident between them in the dormitory since, he could barely even look at Sirius or Regulus but he had, on the other hand, apologised to Remus.

"_Listen, Moony" _

"_Don't you 'Moony' me, James!" Remus said shirtily. _

"_I'm really sorry..." _

"_For what? Shouting at me? Battering me? Being so awful to Sirius and Regulus when you didn't understand any of it?!" Remus snapped. _

"_You don't need to be so angry" _

"_I should think I've got every bloody right to feel angry!" Remus went on. "After what you did? I know what they're doing is... different... but you have to understand you can't behave the way you do whether you support them or not, they're still human beings" _

"_I know they are and I'm sorry for shouting and hitting you I just want us to go back to being friends again like we were before this happened" James said pursing his lips and furrowing his eyebrows. _

_Remus ignored him. _

_James searched Remus' face anxiously. "Please?" _

_Remus caved with a heavy sigh and even put his book down on the table in the back of the library where he had been studying it. "Fine, I'll forgive you but I'm not going to forget this in a hurry, you need to calm yourself down a bit and sort out whatever problems you think you might have and get over this" _

"_I will I just want proof..." _

"_Proof that they aren't legitimately brothers?" Remus quirked a blonde eyebrow impatiently. "Stop being so hard on them" _

"_How can you agree with this shit, Remus?!" _

"_I never said I agreed with it, I said I accepted it, there is a difference and you should learn that" Remus explained placidly. "I know you like to argue and cause drama but for once in your life please try to learn what makes other people tick, it's not that hard to be kind and civil with people especially your best friend and his brother" _

_James flinched. _

_Remus sighed and rolled his eyes picking the book back up again and burying his nose in it. _

"_Oh come on, Moony..." _

"_This conversation is over" _

"_Yeah but, Remus-" _

"_OVER!" _

_James sighed, turned on his heels and walked away. It was no use even trying to speak to Remus when he was like this..._

"We're going home Saturday morning" Regulus grinned excitedly as he sat down in the Gryffindor common room that very same lunch time.

"I know don't remind me" Sirius chuckled lazily.

"Mother is really excited and father has cleaned your room up for you, he said it was a real mess" Regulus grinned.

Sirius shot his brother a look. "Please don't tell me he's gone in there to try and take down those Muggle posters I put up?"

"Yup" Regulus grinned. "He's doing his nut about it so be prepared for an earful over them"

"I don't see why they offend him so much..." Sirius sighed shifting a little closer to Regulus.

"Hmm let's see, probably because you used a permanent sticking charm to tack them to the insides of his prized house" Regulus smirked playfully.

Sirius couldn't help but laugh. "Serves him right to be honest!"

"I think I'm going to go home too and visit my parents" Remus mused looking up from that morning's newspaper to join in with their conversation.

"I think you should get into bed with us tonight like you said you would over a week ago" Regulus' smirk broadened as he watched Remus' cheeks go up in flames.

"Oh, uh, okay, yeah" the Werewolf said nervously folding his paper in two and resting it down on the arm of the chair. "Do I need to, like, bring anything?" he asked curiously and oh so filled with virginal innocence.

Sirius and Regulus shot him sharklike grins.

"Only some lube and your arsehole" Sirius purred.

Remus' face went up in flames and he looked utterly horrified. "Sirius!" he gasped, scandlised by what the taller boy was saying. "Don't be so crude"

"What?" Sirius laughed casually. "I can't help it, and besides, you promised us you would do this!" he pouted playfully.

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever, I'll do it as I said I would but no funny business, promise?"

Sirius and Regulus looked to one another and smiled. "We promise!" they said together.

...

That evening, true to form, Remus had a bath, got changed into his pyjamas (long trousers and long-sleeved plaid - red) before he went back into the dormitory and made his way over to their bed with them.

James and Peter were already behind closed curtains and Remus felt somewhat nervous about sleeping in a bed with two of his gay friends for the night. He knew he shouldn't be apprehensive about it because he did trust them he was just still very private and slightly prude-ish and he knew they were desperately going to try soon enough to rid him of that status.

"Come on in, Moony, the sheets are lovely and warm" Sirius grinned casually as Remus peeped through their bed curtains.

Sirius and Regulus were both wearing long-sleeved pyjama tops and he hoped to Merlin they were wearing their long ones on bottom too, it would be just like them to try something so sneaky especially with Regulus' Slytherin ways hanging about there like a bad smell.

Remus took a small breath in and slid between the curtains, he climbed over the top of Regulus and under the covers into the space between them where they were both indicating. "You were right" he laughed nervously when he was settled and they both turned to face him curiously. "It is really warm in here, I could sleep all night and all day tomorrow too"

They grinned.

"We would have absolutely no objection to that" Regulus purred softly.

Remus swallowed and closed his eyes with a soft sigh.

"Make yourself comfortable and we'll just go straight to sleep tonight if you like, Moons" Sirius said casually laying sprawled out and tucked under in his bed. Remus felt the boy's leg brush his own and he felt the relief wash over him when he realised that, yes, Sirius was in fact wearing his pyjama bottoms...

Regulus too, actually.

So Remus did as he was told and lay down in the position he would normally use to sleep in facing Sirius today. Regulus snuggled curling around his back wrapping his arms around Remus' middle but he didn't tense, fidgit or protest. This was okay, this was good, it was warm, cozy and actually rather lovely.

"Goodnight, guys" Sirius breathed softly.

"Night" Regulus mumbled into the back of Remus' neck, the warmth sending a small shiver down the boy's back.

"Night" Remus whispered closing his eyes.

He could have almost sworn he felt Sirius and Regulus smiling into him as he drifted off to sleep that night...

...


	11. The Journey 'Home'

The days leading up to the Christmas holidays were long and boring. Each day when Regulus woke, he tried to avoid the accusing eyes of James Potter whom seemed to be growing increasingly stormy over the relationship incident. Remus on the other hand, was improving with it. Good old accepting Remus Lupin, always one to be gentle and accept people for who or what they were, even if they were in an incestuous relationship...

On the last day of term, Regulus could not contain his worry. He would be heading home tomorrow on the train with Sirius, practically disowned, angry Sirius whom hated being in the house let alone actually speaking with their parents. They really were only truly going to do some digging in Regulus' past. He spent plenty of time in lessons wondering if the words of Potter were really true. Was he adopted? was he really not Sirius' full blood brother? He'd never heard much about adoption within pure-blood families, it was always something to be kept severely under wraps if it ever happened at all. Still, there would be a shred of it somewhere and it wasn't as though he didn't have a right to know of his true parentage if it wasn't actually how he had always thought. Orion and Walburga Black, his mother and father by name, but were they truly his parents by blood?

But on a more pleasant note, the entire school was buzzing. The Christmas decorations were spinning, glittering, shimmering and dancing in perfect harmony dazzling all the students and professors alike. One had to wonder if no matter how many years you spent in the castle, would they ever stop amazing you? probably not. Regulus had always loved Christmas time and he guessed pretty much everyone else did too, except Snape, he seemed to only grow more cold and gloomy as the festive season came around. Skulking around the corridors, hiding away, refusing to put decorations around his bed in the dorm. Still, his problems were nothing to do with Regulus any more, the further away from him, the better.

"Stop worrying, Regulus" Sirius grinned as he sat with the younger boy for dinner that evening. They had officially broken up for the school holidays, everything was perfect and everyone was utterly delighted. The whole school was alive with that burning Christmas flame just like the one in the Gryffindor common room that Regulus had grown to love.

Regulus sighed softly and carefully sliced his roast beef. "You don't understand how nerve wracking his is for me, Sirius"

"I'm your brother, we are little over a year apart, of course I know more about you than you think" the older boy chuckled, his lips spreading into a cheeky grin that made little Christmas fairies dance in Regulus' tummy.

The younger boy swallowed and carefully sipped his drink for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed slightly deep in thought. "What if we find out we're not actually brothers?"

Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes playfully, "Reg..."

"Or what if we find out we are brothers? full brothers?" Regulus now looked slightly worried.

"Would you love me any less if I were really your brother?" Sirius quirked an eyebrow.

"Of course not!" Regulus looked shocked.

"What about if you find out I'm not actually your brother at all?" Sirius' smirk only kept growing.

"None of this changes how I feel about you, I don't care if it's wrong, I can't help it and besides, witches and wizards many, many years ago used to do just the same thing" Regulus swallowed, stuffing a few more bites of food into his mouth.

Sirius looked impressed, "I never knew you were so interested in history, if I'd known maybe I would have paid a bit more attention in class then we could discuss it a little more"

Now it was Regulus' turn to roll his eyes and smirk almost sarcastically. "You can be so silly when you want to be, you pay just enough attention to pass every subject with an Outstanding" he chuckled, "it's not like you're doing too poorly for yourself..."

Sirius barked one of his typically playful laughs catching the attention of some of the other students as usual. Sirius loved his attention. "Jealous, Reggie?"

"Hardly" Regulus smirked back.

...

After dinner they headed back upstairs to the common room. James seemed almost determined to drive a wedge between Sirius and Regulus, he didn't even seem to want them to sit next to each other let alone be together.

"You should lay off them a little, it's Christmas" Remus whispered over to him.

James shot him a look that was halfway to a glare, "you can't tell me what to do, Remus, and anyway, I can't believe you're actually bothering to give them the time of day. They're doing wrong and dirty things being together and sleeping together..."

"They may not even be brothers" Remus sighed, "you said so yourself"

"I did but I thought you were smarter than that" James sighed softly.

Remus furrowed his eyebrows in absolute confusion. "I'm afraid I don't understand..."

"I thought that telling them they weren't really related would drive that big old wedge between them and stop them from seeing each other. I just thought that maybe it was the whole forbidden love type of thing that was bringing them together in the first place so if I broke it then they wouldn't be so interested in each other any more but apparently it hasn't worked!" James sighed heavily with his exasperation weighing heavily in the whole conversation.

Remus pursed his lips and shook his head. "I know what they're doing is wrong, I know they're doing bad things and I know if they truly are brothers then they shouldn't be together, but at the same time they may NOT be brothers and they do seem to really care about each other..."

"Remus..." James quirked a black eyebrow at the boy again.

"Love is blind, James, can't you see that with Lily?" Remus' voice was surprisingly soft.

James looked utterly astounded. "You're comparing Lily and I to those two freaks?!"

"I said that-"

"Blind?! Are you calling her ugly? she's stunning!" James argued, anger rising in his chest.

Remus looked almost panicked. "Don't worry, I'm not saying she's ugly! Don't be silly... I just said that your love for her is strong and you can't explain it, it's the same with them" he said, nodding to where Sirius and Regulus were sitting talking together on the sofa, it didn't look suspicious to the regular, standard eye but to their highly trained ones and too much knowledge about their personal relationship status, they knew it was very close and intimate.

James pursed his lips and turned his attention away from Remus.

"James..."

James again didn't say anything, he sighed, shook his head and made his way over to sit with Peter. Conversation over.

...

A little while later and it was time to head up to bed, Sirius gently nudged his brother to get him to leisurely follow him upstairs. James' eyes were burning on their skin dangerously but he knew better than to say anything right now. He would have to let them alone for tonight, for tomorrow they would be heading home away from his eyes for two weeks and then maybe they would discover whether or not they were brothers, if they were they would have to break up (or so he hoped) and if they weren't then they would be together just fine and maybe even have to make things public for the first time in their lives.

"Fancy a back rub tonight?" Sirius offered as Regulus pulled on his pyjamas.

Regulus smiled gently, lay face-down on the bed and sighed happily crossing his arms over so he could rest his chin on them. "I would love it!"

Sirius laughed, sat over his bum and began to gently but firmly massage his shoulders. Regulus groaned instantly. "You know," said Sirius after a small pause, "I'm nervous about what we find out too"

Regulus was quiet for a few moments mulling those words over like a fine wine before he decided to reply, "maybe we should get a DNA test done?"

"Is that what you want?" Sirius quirked an eyebrow, even though he knew his brother couldn't see him, he could still tell he was doing it. So typically Sirius.

Regulus sighed heavily and shook his head. "I don't know, I feel like this whole thing is silly and we're running on false hope that we can ever be together publicly, but I still don't know, I'd love the research and investigation point but if it's for no real reason then I will be kinda sad"

"Do you want us to be real brothers or not?" Sirius was curious now.

Regulus hesitated for a moment once again, "I want us to be brothers but at the same time I don't want to"

"I think I understand what you mean"

"You do?"

"Kind of" Sirius breathed. "I know that I love being your brother, I know that I love you as my brother, my best friend and my boyfriend and I know nothing will change that but I also know how much better it would be for both of us and how much healthier if we weren't truly related this closely, even cousins would be better than this, this is close even for our family"

Regulus found himself sighing softly, "I couldn't have put it better myself, I know we need to not be brothers but at the same time that brotherly bond is still inside of me and I still want it to be there"

"Oh, I think it always will. Even if you're adopted or I'm adopted or something, it doesn't matter because we're close and we've been raised this way. You may be blood to me or you may not be but at the same time I don't care if you are or not, it's whatever it is and we should take it as it comes, you know?"

Regulus chuckled softly. "I know" he breathed.

...

It was quite some time before James, Remus and Peter decided to come up and by the time they had Sirius and Regulus were just lying in bed together side-by-side doing nothing but hugging tenderly. James shot them a mildly disapproving look but walking in on them cuddling was much better than walking in on them doing other things.

"Best of luck for tomorrow..." he said rather bitterly before he yanked his bed curtains closed and went to sleep.

Sirius sighed heavily and rolled his eyes.

"Think he'll ever come to accept us?" Regulus looked up worriedly into Sirius' face.

"Oh, I think he will, as soon as we prove we're not related but even at that he's going to be funny about it considering we have been so close for so many years and he has always believed us to be brothers, you can't erase any of that overnight"

Regulus just shrugged. "I guess not"

"Don't mind James" Remus said very quietly as he padded over to the bed, a worried look on his face. "You'll be fine, he won't say anything to anyone"

"Well, hopefully in a way we won't be brothers so even if he did say something it wouldn't matter because nobody could shout sinful at us or anything" Sirius gave a shrug. "I don't care what other people think but... it makes life harder when they think the worst of you constantly"

"I don't think people could ever think the worst of you" Remus spoke, furrowing his eyebrows. The look on his face told both Sirius and Regulus that he did actually mean it.

Sirius chuckled playfully, holding back his barking laugh for once in his life, it was probably better not to upset James any further tonight by not waking him up.

"Too handsome?" Regulus grinned, reaching a hand up to stroke his brother's soft cheek.

Sirius only grinned further, "too everything, I don't know what it is about me but people go crazy for it"

"Popularity, looks, intelligence, Gryffindor house, pure-blood, wit, bad boy attitude, slightly biker image, aloof, very cool?" Remus sighed counting each thing off on his fingers. "Girls go crazy to be with you and guys go crazy to be you"

"Lucky Regulus has both" Sirius laughed again making the younger boy blush furiously and nudge him in the ribs.

"Sirius!" he gasped, scandalised.

Sirius was still laughing and pulled his brother closer to playfully and sloppily kiss his temple. "You're so cute when you're shocked"

Remus sighed, said a brief goodnight with a lazy wave of his hand and went and crawled into his bed.

"He so thinks we're funny" Sirius said again, loud enough for Remus to hear.

"Goodnight, Sirius..." Remus sighed.

Regulus laughed as the drapes swung shut around the blonde boy's bed.

"Is there anything you want before bed?" Sirius yawned, stretching out beneath the covers.

"No I'm fine thanks, you?" Regulus smiled.

Sirius just smiled again, "I'm fine, now you should get some sleep we have to get up, get packed and get on that damn train by eleven tomorrow morning" he yawned softly.

Regulus held Sirius' chin as he brushed their lips together softly. "Goodnight, Siri"

"Night, Reggie" Sirius whispered back.

And with that, the lights went down, the drapes swung shut and they settled down to actually sleep.

...

The next morning was absolute chaos. Sirius had let his brother sleep in before he'd gotten up, washed, dressed and began packing their trunks up as well as he possibly could alone.

Remus, James and Peter were up mainly lounging about, they had chosen to actually stay at school this year. Sirius thought it was because maybe James wanted to get away from all the drama with them and get some space in his own dormitory without his best friend and the Slytherin to be there. But Sirius wasn't really one to care about stuff like that, so he didn't.

When Regulus woke, he felt incredibly embarrassed.

"Why didn't you wake me?" he slurred a little sleepily as he blinked up into Sirius' face.

Sirius grinned and leaned down brushing his lips over Regulus' forehead. "I wanted you to sleep for a little while longer, you looked so peaceful and I didn't have the heart to wake you"

Regulus felt his heart flutter slightly in his chest, "aww, that's too sweet"

Sirius grinned again and let out a small laugh, "I finished your bag, everything is packed and ready pretty much because I know you left out pretty much everything you wanted to take with you"

"Too kind" Regulus smiled back, touching the side of his lover's face.

"So are you ready to go down and get some breakfast then?"

"Absolutely" Regulus breathed. He stretched out, slouched out of bed and went straight for the bathroom to pee and freshen up. He was starting to grow increasingly comfortable around Sirius' friends, something he thought he would never do. It didn't take him very long before he was ready. He dressed quickly and went happily down to breakfast with Sirius.

….

The whole castle was buzzing so violently it was surprising the castle walls hadn't fallen down around them. Regulus managed to slip through the throngs of people, glad of his brother to hang on to and excited that those little thrills shot through his body as he got to touch his brother's hand in public. Would this be the last time? the first? he wasn't sure.

The Great Hall itself wasn't as packed and when he got to sit down, he was grateful for the array of breakfast foods.

"Do you normally eat a lot on the train?" Sirius asked, genuinely curious.

Regulus gave a little shrug, "I have lunch, not too much though because I lose my appetite when travelling"

"Something else we have in common, on the way here I'm starving, on the way home I'd rather not eat too much" Sirius chuckled back.

Once they'd finished eating they headed back upstairs to grab their things. People were saying goodbye everywhere and it made Regulus feel almost sad. They wouldn't be spending Christmas here in the beautiful castle, but instead at home finding out something he wasn't sure either of them really wanted to know about when it came down to it. Still, it was better knowing than not knowing when it came down to it in the end. Students were everywhere and the fight to safely get back down all those staircases was a small nightmare, he had to hang onto Sirius just to make it down alive.

….

"So I guess I'll see you when we get back" said Sirius when the time came to say goodbye.

Regulus shifted his bag awkwardly on his shoulder and tried to look away.

"Yeah, see you next year…" James twisted his mouth slightly and raised one black eyebrow.

Remus swallowed and jumped in giving Sirius a friendly hug, "have a wonderful Christmas, you'll write, won't you?" he grinned hopefully. Remus was always one to love Christmas time.

Sirius laughed, "course, Moony!" he beamed with delight.

Regulus wasn't surprised when Remus wrapped his arms around him, the hug slightly firmer than with Sirius and Regulus was certain he knew why.

"I'm here for you if you need me no matter what the result, I still support you and Sirius even if it does turn out to be something… more than what you are bargaining for…" Remus breathed into the younger boy's ear. He cared for Regulus as a close friend and he didn't want to see anyone tearing into him or Sirius over what was going on, surely it was the sort of thing that would hit the papers.

Regulus swallowed against his shoulder and smiled gently. "Thanks very much" he breathed as they separated.

Remus smiled once more, Peter nodded and smiled his goodbye's and James just stared at them.

"Bye" said Sirius awkwardly, one last time. After that, they turned and left the entrance hall among the throng of other students headed for the carriages to make their way to Hogsmeade. Sirius and Regulus managed to hop in a carriage on their own, apparently part of the problem was because they were two Black's and nobody wanted to be trapped in a small, enclosed space with two of them running around loose. Regulus had laughed the first time Sirius had told him that in second year, right before they really fell out.

The journey to the village was good and lasted only about fifteen minutes as the array of little carriages trundled down the lane. The snow had been falling more heavily overnight and the thick, grey clouds hanging deeply overhead were the sure sign that it was going to snow again.

"The snow's beautiful, isn't it?" Sirius smiled as he slipped his hand through Regulus'. "I love watching it fall every year"

"Mm, shame it might not be so wintry in London" Regulus sighed, he was right though, even if it had been snowing it was likely to be dark, murky and half washed away by Muggle cars, kids playing in the streets and general maintenance to remove the hazard. It seemed funny that people who were in even colder countries that lived neck-deep in snow all the time lived without a problem, but people here? no, the tiniest flurry and the was a red alert issued and everything came to a stand still.

"Sad, but it was last year so I heard" Sirius grinned to his brother.

Regulus chuckled and rolled his eyes, "it was actually quite pleasant, although mum and dad wouldn't really let me out of the house"

"Why?"

"They were afraid I would get myself involved with and go play with some Muggles or something, I don't get it really, I wouldn't do something like that" he shrugged not feeling at all uncomfortable or embarrassed by what he was saying.

"Such a little pure-blood" Sirius smirked, rolling his eyes.

"Just as pure as you are" Regulus pointed out.

"I am labelled a blood traitor, you're not" Sirius grinned back.

Regulus laughed and nudged his brother in the ribs. He couldn't really think of anything else to say, in a way his brother was a blood traitor but in all honesty he didn't mind, Sirius was still his and he was still Sirius'. It didn't make a difference anymore what they were, they were comfortable together and that was all that mattered.

….

The village was bustling with students, people that lived there were grinning, waving and calling to them with a happy "Merry Christmas" as they did every year.

Regulus smiled and waved at them as they dragged their stuff from the carriage and began walking through the snowy little village. He loved this place at Christmas and was finally glad to be here with Sirius and with no threat of having to return to that cosy little dorm, only made cosier by the presence of James Potter.

"I know this probably isn't the best thing to say right now, but this could be the last time we walk through here and board the train as true brothers" Sirius lowered his voice.

The words shook Regulus a little and he swallowed nodding slowly. "Why don't we start talking about things that don't revolve around sadness?" he asked quietly. "I mean, I just don't want to spend all Christmas thinking of bad things"

Sirius smiled and draped a lazy arm around Regulus' shoulders, the hand gently squeezed his boyfriend's upper right arm but to anyone else it would look like the most casual thing in the world. "Well, what do you want to talk about? Something that turns you on?" he waggled those eyebrows playfully.

Regulus blushed then laughed. "Arithmancy, let's talk bout Arithmancy…"

Sirius and Regulus both burst out laughing.

….

The small boarding station was packed with people. The students were cramming their trunks on and climbing in to the surprisingly roomy train. That was the one thing that Sirius did enjoy about returning from the holidays, he would be able to relax on the train and they could get a private compartment together without having to worry about other people bothering them.

They climbed onto the train and went straight for an empty compartment towards the back end, settling themselves down, Sirius sighed happily as they waited for the train to leave.

"Another seven hours and we will be home" Regulus sighed happily, a smile spreading across his face.

"And you seem happy about this, because…?"

Regulus chuckled, rolled his eyes and nudged his boyfriend in the side. "You agreed to come"

"To please you, not me" Sirius pointed out.

Regulus sighed again. "You will be fine, Sirius, it won't do you any harm to spend some time at home"

"Really?" the other boy quirked an eyebrow.

"Really…"

Sirius pulled his brother closer and pressed his lips softly to his small temple as the train began to pull from the station, gathering speed as it left. "I guess it won't be so bad so long as I'm with you"

Tiny butterflies fluttered in Regulus tummy and he blushed rather madly, "Sirius…" he whispered, "what if someone can hear?!"

Sirius glanced back towards the door looking almost bored. "There's nobody here, Reg, they're all pretty much down the other end of the train"

Regulus looked up into his brother's face, "what if they come along?"

Sirius barked his usual playful laugh and brought his lips down to Regulus' making the boy tense a little and squeak. "Nobody is coming apart from maybe the lady with the trolley in a couple of hours" he grinned, "but I do agree that maybe we shouldn't do anything too intimate just in case"

Regulus pecked his brother on the cheek, "doesn't mean we can't cuddle" he breathed, resting his chin against Sirius' chest.

Sirius smiled.

….

It wasn't long before Regulus had fallen asleep and sunk down into Sirius' lap to doze, Sirius' fingers made their way to his silky black locks and began to stroke through them lovingly. The last time they had been on the train together was when he was coming back to school with a nice welt on his face, right after he and Regulus had started getting closer again last summer.

Last summer… it seemed like a lifetime away what with everything else that had been going on. Right then and there if you'd asking him if he'd be sleeping with Regulus in a couple of months he would have been shocked and shouted a firm no, but now? Things were very different and maybe if it turned out that they weren't really brothers then they could actually be together without a problem…

An hour or so later and the lady came by with the lunch trolley. Sirius had bought some sweets and pumpkin pasties and insisted on shaking Regulus awake, the boy groaned and tried to go back to sleep but Sirius wanted him to eat something so he wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Sleepy…"

"Eat" said Sirius, stuffing a pumpkin pastie under his brother's nose.

Regulus sighed, smiled and gave in. He took the pastie and began to stuff it down hungrily. Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "Maybe I was a little bit hungry…

"It's been hours since breakfast" Sirius noted.

They soon got started on the sweets, laughing eat and joking around very happily, the woman with the trolley passed and rolled her eyes playfully at them with a smile on her face. Apparently most of the other students weren't in such high spirits and many of them were sleeping, not that there were too many actually going home this year to begin with…

….

The rest of the train ride was spent mostly talking and sleeping, Sirius had even drifted off a couple of times and was unsurprisingly not woken by Regulus for any reason.

The darkness had fallen over the train and eventually it began to slow down as they approached Kings Cross station in London. Sirius swallowed, a small amount of nerves biting at his stomach.

Regulus looked at him with reassuring eyes and a bright little smile, "don't be nervous"

"I hate those people" Sirius said bitterly through gritted teeth.

"I'm sure they still love you" Regulus spoke half-heartedly. Sirius could see the tentativeness in his eyes, he knew it as much as Sirius himself did that their parents wished they had aborted Sirius.

"They don't know what love is"

Eventually the train came to a standstill, steam billowing everywhere and there was movement in the compartments. They picked up their things, slid open the door, checked they had left nothing behind and followed the rest of the students to the doors.

Sirius felt even more nervous, he stood straight with Regulus by his side as the doors opened. For a moment he couldn't see very much, then all he could see was his parents.

….


	12. 12 Grimmauld Place

Mrs Black wasn't the type to show anyone much affection and that did include her own children. Her eyes and her husband's eyes went straight to Regulus, they both greeted him with small smiles and handshakes and Mrs Black even managed to pet him on the head like a good dog rather than a son. A few people sort of glanced at them as they passed with their children, clinging onto each other, beaming smiles everywhere and happiness and festivity all around. It wasn't unusual to see members of the Black family lacking affection, apart from Andromeda of course, and sometimes Narcissa... sometimes.

"Hello, Sirius" Mr Black greeted him with a vague nod, his mother merely glanced and shot him the briefest of smiles, her eyes darting around to make sure nobody saw her do it either.

"Hi" he said flatly back.

They gathered their things and made their way through the barrier and along the platform. The Black family were extremely proud pure-blood's and did not care if Muggle's thought they were strange or scary for wearing full wizarding robes and cloaks in the middle of the day in a train station. Mrs Black merely barged through them, flicking her delicate wrists and hands covered in snowy white gloves. They may not have known she was magical, but they could sense she was of importance even if they didn't know her.

Sirius and Regulus shot looks to one another as they followed them out keeping their heads down and trying to look as casual as possible. Thankfully they didn't have the full kit of stuff they would usually bring at the start of every September.

When they got outside, they followed the two parents to their usual spot, Mr and Mrs Black grabbed their arms and disapparated into the dim evening light.

...

"We're home" Regulus sighed softly as he blinked up at Grimmauld place from the little pocket park opposite. He still felt a little dizzy and nauseated from the apparition but he didn't care. He was home, things were changing and he would finally learn a potential truth.

Sirius made a slightly peculiar noise and stared up at the house almost warily. The peculiar expression on his face was difficult for Regulus to read but he did know and understand how Sirius felt about their childhood home. He knew how much Sirius despised their parents and how many bad things had gone on under this roof. The screaming fights, the issues, the throwing things, the magic, the punishments, the hatred and the burning, boiling anger festering inside every one of them and inside anyone who dared to pass the threshold. Regulus felt a little bad for making him come but he knew in reality it was for the best.

Once they got inside they were immediately greeted by Kreacher whom was instantly taken with their mother and then turned to Regulus second, their father third and barely spared a glance at Sirius.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, Mistress..." he said slowly.

"Very good, Kreacher" she gave him a gentle pat on the head, not unlike how she did to Regulus only to Kreacher it seemed fonder somehow.

Regulus swallowed.

"Let's go throw this shit upstairs" said Sirius.

"Watch your language!" Orion barked as the two boys headed up the stairs. Every single time their father shouted, Regulus would flinch regardless of whether or not he was the one being shouted at. Usually, he wasn't. He followed his brother up the stairs right to the very top floor where only their two rooms were situated. Sirius barged into his own and slung his bag on the slightly messy floor whereas Regulus neatly put his in the corner and fought the urge to unpack with Sirius leaning against his doorframe with his arms folded, his right eyebrow quirked and a smirk plastered across his face.

"What?" Regulus asked almost nervously.

Sirius chuckled.

"Seriously, what?"

Sirius unfolded his arms and strode over to his brother. He stopped right in front of him, leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips. "You're too cute"

The younger boy found himself flushing slightly, partly with confusion. "What did I do?"

"You're just being you and it's fucking adorable" Sirius grinned back and kissed him again.

Regulus smiled and relaxed into the kiss. "You're only flattering me to get into my boxers later"

Sirius burst out laughing. "You got me!"

Regulus rolled his eyes playfully.

"No I'm only joking, I'm not just looking to open your trousers. I do love you, you know that, right?" Sirius said a little more seriously.

"Of course" Regulus breathed and leaned up to kiss Sirius again. When they pulled apart, Regulus turned to look about his room. It didn't appear that anyone had been in here since he left in September.

"Master Regulus?"

He turned quickly to look at the door where Kreacher stood staring at him and him alone. "Dinner is ready and about to be served"

"Thank you, Kreacher" Regulus smiled. He watched the elf turn to leave before looking to Sirius. "That was close" he whispered.

Sirius shrugged. "To be fair you could just kick him up the arse if he dared say anything anyway, he has to obey you regardless"

"He has to obey you as well" Regulus lifted his eyebrows a little.

Sirius chuckled and shrugged. "Yeah but does he? I doubt it"

"Probably because you shout at him" Regulus snickered.

Sirius shrugged again. "Who gives a fuck?" he grinned. "Wanna go get something to eat and try to withstand the hellfire our parents will be throwing at us in great stinking lava balls?"

Regulus laughed hysterically. "You're so mean sometimes"

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true" Sirius winked and slapped Regulus on the bum as they left the room.

...

Downstairs they wound down into the long kitchen, it was fairly dimly lit and a small, sad Christmas tree sat in the corner along with a bit of silver tinsel draped around it and a few silver and green baubles - Slytherin. Sirius swallowed as he entered behind his brother, he could see clearly over the top of him as Regulus was much shorter.

Regulus wasn't as uncomfortable as Sirius so took his usual seat along the back row of chairs spaced what seemed like miles apart. Mrs Black sat at the top end, her hands folded, her large glittering rings on display and her grey eyes slightly narrowed. On the bottom end sat Mr Black wearing long works robes, his shaggy black hair and strikingly sharp grey eyes making him look so much like an older version of Sirius it scared Regulus. He swallowed.

They sat in silence, Sirius and Regulus sparing nervous glances to one another as Kreacher bustled about obediently serving them their dinner. When it was all dished up, he put some Christmas music on through the gramophone. An old record wobbled against the needle as it turned by magic emitting an orchestral brass version of Silent Night.

"Well," said Sirius, "this is cheery"

"The whole family sitting around the dinner table" said Mrs Black, bitterly. "How wonderful..."

"Sarcasm noted, mother" he replied.

They tucked into their dinner in silence. In a normal household they would be enjoying themselves, grinning, hugging and perhaps pulling a cracker or two early. It was, after all, Christmas in less than a week.

When they were done, Kreacher served up crystal bowls filled with toffee fudge cake and hot custard for them all with silver engraved spoons. Regulus wasn't sure if he could truly finish his own as he was starting to feel a little nervous now.

"That was lovely, Kreacher" said Mrs Black, dabbing her lips with lace napkin.

"Thank you, Mistress..." he bowed his head, his long ears flopping forward. "I will be sure to make Christmas dinner even more enjoyable"

"As you should, provided we can all manage to have one civilised Christmas around the dining table" her eyes flew angrily to Sirius again but she was still facing the little old elf.

"Touche, mother" Sirius said, coolly.

"Don't you speak to your mother that way!" Mr Black barked from down the other end of the table. You sort of had to speak loudly to make sure everyone else could hear you from the distance, well, you would if you were actually allowed to speak at the dinner table.

"Maybe she shouldn't speak to _me_ that way" Sirius spat right back.

"Let's not fight..." Regulus swallowed warily, keeping his eyes trained on his plate.

"Maybe you should stop being an ungrateful little beast" the woman snarled, straightening herself up in her chair, some strands of her faded blonde hair escaping their expensive glittering clasps. "Behave more like your brother then you will gain the respect you think you deserve"

Sirius scoffed and shook his head. "Oh, I would behave more like Regulus... but you know..." he shrugged a little.

Mrs Black narrowed her eyes angrily. "He's our good son and he always will be" she swept to her feet. "Kreacher, I will take my nightcap in the living room"

"Of course, Mistress" he bowed obediently.

Regulus was nervous, his father got up and he watched his mother turning to leave the room before. It was now or never. "Except I'm not really your son, am I?" his voice was small but the woman froze mid-step. She'd heard anyway.

There was a tense moment of silence before she slowly, very slowly, turned to stare at the boy again. "What did you just say?" her voice was surprisingly silky. Regulus couldn't quite tell if she was angry or surprised. He was really hoping for surprised...

He swallowed and tried to keep his voice as steady as possible. "I'm not really your son, am I?"

Mr and Mrs Black exchanged looks. "Why would you say that?" the man asked, calmly.

Regulus looked down at the table where Kreacher had cleared his plate and have a heavy shrug. "I'm not though, am I?"

Mr and Mrs Black exchanged baffled looks. Finally after some moments, they regained their cold and hardened composures. Regulus looked up into their faces with furrowed dark eyebrows.

"I think that is more than enough excitement for one night" Mrs Black said, smoothly.

"But-"

"You should go to bed now" she said rather abruptly and before Regulus could argue, she turned on her heels and swept from the room with her husband and house elf behind her.

"Well that was rather unpleasant" Sirius sighed, running his fingers through his gorgeous hair.

Regulus swallowed and stared at the pattern in the woodwork of the table for a minute or so. "It clearly wasn't a good sign..."

"Yeah, they didn't seem to want to talk about it" said Sirius. He got up from the table when he was sure they were all in the living room and went over to his brother, leaning on the table so he wasn't towering over him so much. "But I guess it's a start and we couldn't expect them to really be open about your parentage from the off knowing what they're like and how secretive they are about even the simplest of things"

"Mm" Regulus sighed heavily. "I think she's right, though, I think we should go upstairs for a little while"

"Wanna come sleep beside me?" Sirius lifted his eyebrows in such a charming way it actually made the younger boy smile.

"I'd love to" said Regulus. "But what if they come upstairs and see us?"

"Have they ever come up before?" Sirius quirked an eyebrow.

Regulus shook his head.

"Problem solved, then" the older boy chuckled and leaned down to brush their lips together tenderly.

...

They headed upstairs, sneaking past the closed living room door where they could faintly hear the fire crackling and their parents talking in low voices as they walked through the long hallway and started on the old, dark staircase. They walked the entire way to the top of the house in silence, stopping at the bathroom for a quick wash before they went up to Sirius' bedroom. Regulus hadn't been in here too many times before as Sirius had often kicked him out or refused to allow anyone access, even for cleaning which was why it was usually such a terrible mess.

"You can make yourself comfortable" Sirius gestured towards the bed.

Regulus went over and ran his hands over the soft fabric. Of course Sirius had a patchwork bedspread made mostly from red with plush pillows, a very thick soft mattress and drapes, the side closest to the door was open but the one facing the back window was drawn a little bit to shield the light away from his face when he was sleeping. "I need something to change into"

Sirius slid open his top drawer and pulled out a relatively small pair of pyjamas, they were clearly a bit too short for him but for Regulus they wouldn't be so bad. He tossed the flannel red pyjamas over to his brother with a grin. "I hardly ever get to see you wearing red, it's the perfect time of year for it, too"

Regulus chuckled and shook his head as he shrugged out of his clothes and pulled them on. "As much as you may wish me to be, I am not a Gryffindor and never will be one"

"Oh, I don't mind so much" Sirius flashed him a grin as he pulled on his own pyjamas which were red with little gold metallic threads through them. Their mother hated them with a vengeance. He made his way over to the bed and gently pushed Regulus back down, he spared a look to the door just to make sure it was definitely closed before he brought their lips together in a tender kiss.

Regulus actually sighed with happiness as he relaxed back into his brother's soft bed. It was lovely, so comfortable and warm.

"We can put some tinsel up if you like, I've got a little tree" Sirius pulled back and looked down into his eyes.

"As long as we decorate it with colours other than silver and green - not that I have anything against my house colours... I'd just prefer to see something happy in this house for once" Regulus grinned.

Sirius chuckled and got off of the bed. Regulus sat up and watched him pull out a little green and quite bushy Christmas tree from his bag. He must have put some kind of charm on it. He set it on the side in its pot and bushed it up a little bit more.

"Did you get that from school?" Regulus blinked, staring at it.

"Yeah, there's always some spares they don't use because they're too little and if they don't have anywhere else to put them they don't mind if you take them" he grinned.

Regulus sighed softly, he felt strangely touched. He watched as Sirius walked in a perfectly straight line, bent double around the room until he found a spot. He furrowed his eyebrows watching his brother flip back the worn red rug over the floorboards and hoist one up. He dug around for a few minutes and Regulus craned his neck to get a better look as Sirius lifted a cardboard box from under it. It looked pretty old. He replaced the board and the rug and put the box on the side next to the tree.

"Aren't you going to help me decorate this thing?" Sirius smirked, looking back over his shoulder at Regulus.

The Slytherin beamed and hopped up from the bed making his way over. Sirius had opened the box and draped a strand of tinsel around Regulus' neck in bright gold.

"Happy colours!" Regulus laughed as Sirius began taking beautiful glass baubles, some beads and more tinsel from the box in every colour of the rainbow. Except brown.

Sirius flashed him a grin and they set to work hanging the baubles on the green little tree making it glisten and shimmer merrily.

"I love glass ones way more than I love plastic" Regulus sighed, holding up a red bauble to admire it. He could see his own reflection in the bright shiny colour.

"Me too" Sirius agreed with a nod, holding up a purple one. "There's some glittery ones in here as well"

"How did you even get a hold of these?" Regulus asked in something close to amazement.

"Bought them a couple of years ago from the Muggle shops and smuggled them back into the house when mum and dad were out" Sirius grinned. "They have no idea I've even got them"

Regulus laughed and shook his head. "Kreacher doesn't either?"

"Apparently not, unless he just hasn't said anything" Sirius smirked, hanging a shiny silver bauble near the middle of the tree.

"Yeah right!" Regulus scoffed, rolling his eyes. "If it's you then there's no way he would cover for you to mum, no way at all"

Sirius looked up. "Has he ever covered for you before?"

Regulus flushed. "Yeah but not for anything serious, just nicked a bottle of fire whiskey from the wine store and drank half of it"

"Did you get pissed?"

"Yeah" Regulus smirked, averting his eyes. He actually felt quite embarrassed of it but he knew his brother would approve of this type of behaviour.

"Well done, Reg!" Sirius beamed, clapping his little brother on the back. "So how do you fancy stealing some more this year and getting pissed off our faces as a great way to bring in Christmas and the new year?" his eyes were dancing with life and happiness.

Regulus chuckled and nodded. "I'm up for that, sure!"

"Glad to hear it, bro, glad to hear it" Sirius flashed a beaming grin again.

They finished hanging the bright shining and glittery baubles on the tree, draped the clattering little beads all over it (after spending a good fifteen minutes untangling them) and covered it in tinsel.

"You can do the honours of the star" said Sirius, hanging the gold glittering ornament to his brother.

Regulus smiled, took it and gently placed it on the top of the tree. "Perfect" he said.

"Yes it is" Sirius breathed. When Regulus looked up at him he realised Sirius hadn't been looking at the star at all and he flushed.

They raked out some lights and put them on the tree watching them glowing beautifully for a little while just standing together with their arms around one another.

"You know, I'm actually really glad I agreed to come back here with you for Christmas" said Sirius, slowly. Regulus looked up at him gently. "I mean, I do not like our parents and I cannot stand this grim old out, but things are much better now we're on good terms and I know we can have a right laugh or two together this year, it could even be... fun"

Regulus smiled again and nodded slowly. "And we might actually get some good news for a change which will more than please your friends so that problem will be solved by the new year"

Sirius exhaled slowly and chuckled. "I can definitely agree on that one, Regulus" he said.

"I'm just still a little bothered by mum's reaction to what I said earlier"

"Don't be, it was probably nothing. If anything it just means she knows we're onto her, she needs to come clean and tell us"

"What if we are, Sirius?" Regulus' eyebrows furrowed and he chewed on his bottom lip.

Sirius reached a thumb out to gently tug on Regulus' chin and free the abused lip. "If we are, we are" he said simply. "Wanna go cuddle in bed?"

Regulus wasn't one to protest about such nice things. He nodded and crawled into his brother's bed. Sirius spelled his hands clean after digging through the floorboards and curled up beside him so they lay in each other's arms gazing at their beautiful tree. "I really do think this is going to be a fresh start for all of us"

"Me too, Reg, me too" Sirius breathed.

...

The next morning, Regulus woke feeling so warm and so cosy he could barely even utter a sigh. Some daylight was spilling through the rather dank little window, brighter than usual because the snow was coming down outside like there was no tomorrow.

"Good morning, gorgeous" Sirius chuckled, lazing about on his front under the covers.

"Morning!" Regulus said brightly, blinking himself awake. "Any plans for the day?"

Sirius gave a lazy shrug. "I guess we should do some investigating if you like"

"I like"

The older boy leaned over to kiss him and smirked playfully. "Maybe tonight we can..." he waggled those immaculate dark eyebrows playfully.

Regulus' cheeks reddened and he gasped softly. "We can't do it here! what if they hear us? what about Kreacher? what about- mph!" Sirius silenced him with a kiss on the lips.

"Stop worrying, everything will be fine" he smiled brightly. "We can shut the door or wait until they go out and give Kreacher some tasks down in the kitchen and shut all the doors and then come up here and fuck each other's brains out"

Regulus smirked. "Well, I do like sex..."

"We'll see if we get a chance, we have two weeks to have fun with" Sirius winked playfully.

Regulus grinned again. "Shall we brave our parents and get some breakfast? I'm starving"

"I think we can manage that"

They got up, washed, dressed and headed downstairs. Regulus actually felt rather nervous after last night. He eyed a few of the small and very old-fashioned decorations sitting on the sides. No doubt there was a bigger tree in the living room like there normally was but they hadn't seen it yet. He exhaled a shaky nervous breath when they stepped into the kitchen. Mr Black was sitting in the middle of the table where Sirius had been last night sipping on a steaming goblet of presumably tea reading the paper with a few notes and pieces of paper that had been scrawled all over on the table. Mrs Black was sitting a few feet away from him stirring her drink slowly and examining her manicure, no doubt she would be going to get it done very soon.

"Morning" said Mr Black, looking up at them when they both walked in. Kreacher laid a platter with a full English breakfast in front of him and bowed low.

"Good morning, dad" said Regulus as they pulled up their chairs right next to one another. The man looked at them oddly.

"I didn't know you two were such good friends" his eyes darted suspiciously between them.

Sirius and Regulus looked to one another calmly.

"Holiday spirit" said Sirius, finally. Just looking at his father made him angry, the last time they'd spoken there had been a blazing row about Sirius drinking in the house again and using up half of his father's expensive vintage wines. Clearly, he had not been forgiven for that just yet but they weren't exactly a forgiving family notorious for their kindness and passive natures.

"Hmm" the man said, eyeing them again.

"I am going to get my nails and hair done today" said Mrs Black with a harsh sniff. "I'll be going with Mrs Rosier and Druella"

"Great..." Sirius muttered sarcastically, unwillingly accepting the plate of food offered by Kreacher. He poked the sausages around a little.

"Kreacher, I'd like this house spotless by the time I get home this evening" she said much more softly to the little old elf.

"Of course, Mistress, as you wish, Mistress" he bowed low again, his eyes shining with adoration for her.

"Are you going anywhere today?" Sirius asked rather quickly.

His father looked up at him and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "No, so you can get the ideas of thieving from my wine stores out of your head. I will be in the house all day finishing my report for work"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Like I was even thinking of that in the first place" actually, that was the last thing on his mind when he thought about having Regulus to himself upstairs all afternoon.

They ate in silence, when Mr Black cleared his throat Regulus almost jumped out of his skin earning himself some extremely suspicious glares.

Breakfast was finished in silence, Sirius and Regulus vaguely watched as Mrs Black pulled on her cloak, accepted her things from Kreacher and left the house into the snow. Thank Merlin. Mr Black remained firmly in his seat watching the boys as they dismissed themselves back upstairs. Well today was going to be fun.

...

It was approaching lunchtime and all the boys had done was laze around in Sirius' room on the bed, talking, reading and feeling frustrated about their lack of ability to do anything today.

"What do you want to do?" Sirius sighed, rolling onto his stomach.

Regulus was lying on his back beside him with his hands resting on the bottoms of his ribcage staring up at the dim ceiling adorned with a beautiful crystal chandelier. "Why don't we do something a little more dangerous?"

"Dangerous?" Sirius perked up a little with excitement.

"Mm, I have this idea but I don't know if we can do it with dad in the house..." said Regulus, slowly.

"I'm listening" Sirius' eyes glittered with interest.

Regulus was silent for a few moments. "I was thinking we could sneak down to mum and dad's room and search the place, search dad's study and search their locked private rooms -provided we can break into them- and see if we can find anything about me. I know it's probably a long shot and this whole thing is possibly a massive waste of time, but we could try it" he looked to his brother.

Sirius could not deny he was surprised at Regulus' courage. "You know what will happen if we get caught, right?"

"We'll be hexed, beaten and tossed out on our arses in the snow and be left for dead with little chance of being able to get back to school?" Regulus winced slightly and swallowed in a reflex.

"Exactly" Sirius stretched himself out a little. "Still up for it?"

Regulus hesitated a moment, his eyes averting. "Yeah, I'm up for it" he smiled.

They hopped off of the bed and slipped out of Sirius' bedroom. Making their way quietly down the flights of stairs until they reached the second floor landing where their parent's bedroom was situated, they stopped to peer down over the wooden banister railings.

"Where do you think he is?" Regulus whispered, hoping to Merlin their father wasn't in one of the rooms behind them growing suspicious and listening in on whatever they were saying. He did have a habit of doing that.

"Probably in the kitchen or the living room or his study" Sirius whispered back. They strained their ears for a few moments but the damn house was so big they could hear nothing but the sound of silence.

Regulus nodded slowly and swallowed. "What about Kreacher?"

Sirius bit his bottom lip. They really couldn't be sure about him. "It's likely he's somewhere near dad but you know what he's like, skulking around in as many dark corners as he can possibly find. He could be anywhere in the house by now"

Regulus felt nervous, he chewed on his bottom lip for a moment trying to make a sensible decision. "Come on, let's go in there now" knowing how high the risk was, but he was still willing to take it just to uncover the truth their parents clearly weren't willing to tell him.

They padded along the creaky old landing right up to the door and paused for a moment to rest their ears against the dark wood. Nothing. It was silent. Sirius reached out and turned the brass polished knob with his hand. Regulus's eyes darted up and down the hallway as though expecting either their dad or Kreacher to jump out at them and catch them red-handed.

Sirius poked his head inside the dark room. "It's clear, nobody's in here" he said before stepping inside and quickly pulling Regulus in with him to close the door.

"Where's the light?" Regulus breathed, the lighting was natural but the heavy black and dark green velvet drapes were blocking out the majority of the light. He stretched his arms out and felt around very carefully.

"Don't put it on, if someone comes up the stairs and see's it then we're busted" Sirius quickly caught his arm before he could reach for the lamp.

Regulus swallowed and nodded. They took a few moments to let their eyes adjust thankful for their light eye colour before they began to slowly creep around the room. Regulus hadn't been in here for quite some time, Sirius hadn't really been in since he was a child. There were absolutely no signs of festivity in here, not even a measly spot of glitter or a shred of tinsel fibre that could have been brought in on someone's clothing. Nothing. Everything was perfectly in its place, the bed was made and the tapestry was the only thing that seemed to truly be cherished in here.

"Well this is morbid" Sirius muttered as he began to open the drawers knowing it was probably a bit of a waste of time. He pushed hair pins, perfumes and makeup aside, looked through all of the jewellery holders, popped open boxes he dared to open. Since he was a child he had learned better than to go poking your fingers into cracks and crevices in this house out of sheer terror of what he might find.

They searched for half an hour, even going through the wardrobes and looking for cracks or slits in the walls which could lead to a safe or a small deposit area nobody would know about.

"Did you find anything yet?" Sirius whispered across the room to his brother.

"No- hold on" Regulus gasped, wriggling himself around trying to find under the small gap under the bed.

"Be careful, you know you get panic attacks when you're stuck in small spaces"

"I'm just trying to..." Regulus panted stretching and straining until his hand caught around the old brass handle of a small wooden box. He heaved and heaved and wriggled and sure enough he felt tendrils of panic washing over him until Sirius grabbed his legs and yanked him out from under the bed. He lay there panting for a few moments, his fingers still curled around the side handle. "Thanks..."

"Can't have you screaming the place down, can we?" Sirius chuckled softly. "What did you find?"

Regulus caught his breath, exhaled slowly and turned over to get up and lift the box with him. He hopped onto the edge of the bed on his dad's side and carefully began feeling around for an opening. "I don't know what this is but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you can just open"

"Looks suspicious if you ask me" said Sirius, perching himself next to him.

They fumbled with the box for several minutes whispering instructions to one another in silence. There was a tiny hole on the under side.

"Maybe there's some sort of key that opens it" Regulus furrowed his dark brows.

"You'd think they'd lock it with magic" said Sirius.

"I don't think it is, if they were hiding something, wouldn't magic be the obvious choice?" said Regulus.

"Dad can cast pretty powerful charms, look how he protects the house" Sirius pointed out.

Regulus gave the box a shake, the brass handle gave a rattle and he sighed. "I don't think this is locked by magic"

Sirius hesitated for a moment. "Let's look for a key"

Regulus nodded. They left the box on the bed whilst they crept around the room and hunted everywhere for a small key. It took them a good ten minutes to come to the conclusion that either the key wasn't in here or there wasn't one.

"Well this is an absolute fucking waste of time" Sirius sighed, prodding the box angrily again as he slumped down on the bed.

"I have an idea" Regulus jumped finally. He hurried over to the vanity table, picked up a hair grip of his mother's and hurried back over.

"What are you doing?" Sirius blinked watching his brother pick it apart and bend it. He took the smooth end and carefully poked it through the hole. The box clicked and the lid popped. You had to slide it to remove it but it was unlocked.

Regulus' face spread into a beaming smile and he gasped softly. "It worked!"

"Reg, you genius!" Sirius beamed, wrapping his arms around his brother and kissing him sloppily on the cheek.

"Sirius!" the boy laughed and wiped his face. He was about to remove the lid when a loud creaking sound from outside the door made his blood turn to ice. He froze like a deer caught in the headlights and turned slowly to face Sirius, both of their faces washing with horror.

"Shit!" Sirius hissed. Footsteps were moving along the landing, closer and closer. "Get down!" he whispered, grabbing Regulus and yanking him to the floor. Regulus let out a tiny squeak of a yelp as Sirius crushed himself flat to the floor and slid under the bed. "Get under here now!"

Regulus froze and swallowed, his eyes wider than saucers. "I-I can't..."

"If you don't and he walks in here and sees you then you're dead fucking meat, Regulus" Sirius dropped his voice even lower.

Regulus hesitated a moment, the footsteps had stopped outside the room and he heard a hand clasping the brass handle.

"Now!" Sirius mouthed and yanked his brother by the arm. Regulus could have cried as he slid under the small gap still holding the box, he'd barely gotten under right as the door opened.

Everything seemed to freeze frame for a few moments. They could see a casting of light and a shadow of someone standing in the doorway stock still. They held their breath, terrified they'd been caught but slowly Mr Black stepped inside and closed the door.

Sirius and Regulus' hearts were hammering, they were doing their best to keep their breathing quiet but Regulus' panic reflexes were welling rapidly inside of him and he was beginning to sweat. Sirius gently took his hand and gave it a squeeze. _It'll be alright, you'll be fine, _he said with his eyes.

Regulus was extremely phobic of being trapped and unable to escape or breathe. He was terrified of the thought of not being able to get out and being crushed to death or suffocated or having his neck broken. Small tight spaces like this were awful, some nights he even woke startled due to nightmares of squeezing through a vent that got smaller and smaller until he couldn't move back or forward and it was being filled with water and... no, it was just too horrible to think about.

Mr Black crossed the room and rested something down on his nightstand, presumably his watch. He whistled faintly as he moved about, hanging up his cloak, putting his shoes neatly on the rack, moving a few things around.

Sirius was nervous, he carefully placed a hand over his mouth to muffle his breathing and looked to Regulus. The poor boy was whiter than white, his eyes wide with tears welling in them, sweat pouring off of him and he was trembling, his breath coming out in short little pants. He felt awful for doing it, but he carefully put a hand over his brother's mouth and nose.

"Mph!" Regulus' tiny muffled sound made Mr Black freeze.

Sirius held his breath and pulled Regulus against him tightly, the poor boy was on the verge of a panic attack as he began sweating harder and trembling more violently. He was absolutely certain his brother could hear his heart hammering through his chest.

Mr Black seemed to relax and slowly sat himself down on the edge of the bed.

_Please don't take a nap, please don't take a nap, please don't take a nap, _Sirius willed desperately. He wasn't sure he could keep Regulus under control for much longer, he was clearly extremely distressed by this.

The man seemed to sit there for a moment fiddling with his watch again before he slipped something from his pocket. There wasn't much light but Sirius could see his shadow holding up a small square of paper. He knew it was a massive risk but he dared to peek out from under the bed. His dad was holding what appeared to be a photograph of Regulus and was just staring at it, he couldn't see his facial expression at all and didn't want to push himself any further out out of fear of being seen. He slowly pushed back under the bed trying to be as quiet as possible thanking Merlin that the bed wasn't the type to sink under someone's weight.

Orion muttered something, sighed and pocketed the photo again before feeling around on the bed. Sirius frowned but relaxed when the man stood up and stretched.

"Better go downstairs, Kreacher will have finished making lunch..." he said slowly to himself. He fidgeted around for a few more moments before he turned and left the room shutting the door behind him.

Sirius had to force Regulus under control, he began thrashing and whimpering instantly, he controlled him enough to hear the footsteps dying away down the stairs before Regulus hauled himself from under the bed and gasped for breath, his eyes wide and he was soaked in sweat.

"I'm so sorry, Reg" Sirius breathed, gently pulling him into his arms. "I had to keep you quiet..."

"I know..." the boy panted, reaching out to clutch the edge of the clean nightstand to steady his shaky legs. They felt like jelly and he was certain that he would collapse at any moment.

"I feel so bad now" Sirius swallowed, his face twisted into a sad look.

Regulus shook his head trying to calm his breathing and wipe the tears from his face at the same time. "Don't, I just get really panicky over small trapped spaces like that. Ever since I was little when mum-"

Sirius' eyes widened but he did not look surprised.

"Never mind..." Regulus breathed and shook his head. He closed his eyes in a long slow blink before straightening up enough to show Sirius the box. "I guess we should get the hell out of here and open this damn thing properly"

Sirius nodded once, determination mode setting in. He snatched the little pin off of the bed, thank fuck their father didn't notice it as it was extremely unlike their mother to leave anything even slightly out of place. He carefully crossed the room pulling Regulus by his sweaty hand. He paused at the door, listened closely and cracked it open. The coast was clear.

The two boys slipped from the room, shut the door and scurried back off up the stairs and quickly as possible and out of sight into Sirius' bedroom. Now all they had to do was find out what was inside the secret little box...

...


	13. Inside the Box

In Sirius' room they took several minutes calming Regulus down. The poor boy was so shaky and in a state, Sirius cracked open his secret stash of Muggle cola drinks and gave him one to get his blood sugar up. The boy looked at it with suspicious for a moment before gulping it thirstily until he calmed down.

"Thanks..." Regulus breathed and rested the open can on the bedside table.

"Don't mention it" Sirius waved a hand at him. The colour was beginning to return to Regulus' little rounded face and he seemed to be relaxing even if he clearly was in need of a shower very soon.

"Let's open the box" Regulus swallowed. He crossed his legs and put it in his lap popping it open with the pin again, it did take a good bit of wiggling until the latch finally gave. He had to admit it was a pretty clever way to keep people out of your private belongings, most wizarding teenage boys didn't even know how to use a hair grip let alone pick a lock with one. He slid the lid down and lifted it up, inside was a bunch of papers and what appeared to be photographs. Many of the papers were old and some were even a little torn and dog-eared in places.

"What's this?" Sirius breathed, lifting a photograph out. It was a photo of both Sirius and Regulus when they were very tiny. Sirius had to be about two years old and Regulus was sitting beside him as a small baby. They looked adorable as they grinned at the camera.

"These look like medical records for just basic things, my school acceptance letter, and..." Regulus frowned as he popped open a small ring box. "My first lost tooth"

"Sirius shifted through the papers, nothing really of too much importance stood out to him. He took another small handful and began looking through them. A couple of birthday cards, a Christmas card, a picture Regulus had drawn when he was tiny...

Regulus froze on the bed.

"What's the matter?" Sirius looked up at him the moment he noticed Regulus was no longer moving. Regulus' lips popped apart as he stared at the top of a folded piece of paper.

"My birth certificate" the younger boy breathed. It was still folded so he couldn't see what was inside of it.

Sirius suddenly felt nervous. He swallowed and gently rested a hand on Regulus' thigh. "That should tell us something more"

Regulus exhaled slowly through his teeth and closed his eyes in a long slow blink before he finally unfolded it. His eyes opened and they went straight to the signing lines... "Black?" he frowned in confusion.

The bottom fell out of Sirius' stomach. "Oh no..."

Regulus shook his head quickly and showed it to Sirius. "Where it says the birth parents are to sign, the mother's side is blank and the father's side just sort of says Black" he frowned in confusion.

Sirius took it and stared at the paper for a moment as though he were just trying to make sure. "Well this isn't supposed to happen"

"What do you mean?"

"You've got to sign a birth certificate for legal reasons and so the child knows who their parents are" said Sirius.

Regulus felt slightly taken aback. He stared down at the birth certificate in his hands and chewed on his poor lip again. "But someone signed it with the Black name"

"Surname" Sirius corrected. "It doesn't lead to anything right now, all we know is your father is a Black and with the amount of men in the family it could literally be anyone"

Regulus sighed heavily and shook his head slowly.

"No?" Sirius furrowed his brows in confusion.

"What if mum and dad are my real parents and they just didn't have time to sign it or maybe they didn't sign yours, either" said Regulus, quickly.

Sirius pursed his lips, the expression on his face turning sympathetic.

"What?" Regulus' face slackened.

"I've seen my birth certificate..." Sirius spoke slowly. "It's signed by mum and dad..."

Regulus swallowed and took one last look at the birth certificate before he folded it and stuffed it back in the box. He flipped through the other papers. It was just a few old baby photos and things they'd put in there as keepsakes from Regulus. He frowned as he put the rest of the things in the box. "I can't help but feel like that was completely pointless"

Sirius shook his head much to his brother's surprise. "I don't think it was at all" he said.

"I guess we should probably put this back..." Regulus replaced the lid on the box.

"Don't be so hasty" Sirius put his palm flat on the top of it. "Keep it here, we can definitely use it"

"Use it?" Regulus quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes, we can. When it comes to confronting mum and dad we need something to argue our case with" Sirius said quickly, tapping his right index finger to the wood of the box.

Regulus suddenly felt extremely nervous and looked to his brother in horror. "Confront them?! do you have any idea what you're saying?!" he gasped in disbelief.

Sirius stared at Regulus for a few moments. "I know it sounds crazy, but-"

"Crazy is an understatement" Regulus breathed, resting the box down in the top drawer of the bedside table and closing it quietly as though frightened the noise would attract their father or Kreacher's attention and they would know instantly they had broken into the bedroom and stolen the box. "We not only accused them of adopting me, we broke into their bedroom, stole personal items and now we're going to try to force them to open up! are you out of your mind, Sirius?"

"Yes I must be because I for one want to know for sure whether you're biologically my brother or not and that birth certificate didn't clarify anything for us" said Sirius.

Regulus swallowed and his shoulders slumped as he looked down into his lap. "I know what we have to do but it's still terrifying the whole thought of it"

"I know it is" Sirius breathed, wrapping his arms around the younger boy. "But we've got to do something about it before it gets completely out of hand. James is about to snap, Remus is right in the middle, I for one am going crazy just thinking about it"

The Slytherin remained quiet for a few moments before he smiled up into Sirius' face. "We're going to tell them tonight, aren't we?"

Sirius nodded slowly, looking him directly in the eyes.

"And that's final, isn't it?" Regulus winced slightly.

Sirius nodded slowly again. "But everything will be fine, you'll see"

"And you're sure this is a good idea?" Regulus asked delicately. "We'll be okay if we're thrown out in the snow at Christmas?"

"If that should happen then I will do everything in my power to make sure we're safe, even if we have to live like Muggles for a very short while or ride the Knight Bus or do something crazy to get back to school, get jobs and get our lives together. I'm sure we'll be just fine" Sirius graced.

Regulus relaxed and exhaled a breath rather quickly and remained silent for a while. The two boys just sat there hugging and gazing into space, minutes ticking past with their minds whirring with ideas and thoughts and complete and utter panic. What would happen tonight? it was a pretty easy guess to say their parents would not be happy but right now Regulus was living in absolute desperation. He had at some point thought maybe Sirius was the one to be adopted, just a tiny shred of a thought but he knew in reality that wasn't possible. Sirius looked so much like their father it was scary at times and his birth certificate had both their names. Sure, it would be possible to look like other relatives and Sirius and Regulus did resemble each other but the majority of Black family members by birth had very similar features; very pale skin, black hair, grey eyes and a slender build. If Regulus really wasn't his parents' child he could belong to anyone else in the family, the further away the better, really.

"I think I'm going to take a shower" Regulus said finally and got slowly to his feet.

"Oh? mind if I join?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows playfully at him.

Regulus could not help but chuckle, he glanced towards the closed bedroom door and sighed. "Okay, but we have to be really careful not to get caught"

"I can be extremely quiet when I want to be" Sirius winked.

They slipped off down the stairs, grabbed some towels and clean clothes before hurrying into the bathroom together and locking the door.

Regulus stood before Sirius and dropped his clothes without a care in the world, keeping their eyes locked the entire time. "Merry Christmas, Sirius" he purred silkily as he turned the knob for the shower and warm water began to spray out, steam quickly filling the air.

"Mm, do I get to unwrap my present early?" Sirius grinned.

Regulus smirked. "You might get one early but there's plenty more where that came from" he breathed as he stepped into the shower.

Sirius gave a shiver. This was going to be amazing.

...

When they finished their shower they only just managed to avoid Kreacher's suspicious glares as they were called down for lunch. They followed him down the staircases, shooting smirky looks to one another. Oh had they had a good time in the bath!

Mr Black was sitting at the kitchen table already looking rather bored and examining the heavy silver cutlery with his chin on his hand. "Kreacher, am I going to have to starve to death or can we finally be served?" he barked angrily, his eyes boring into the house elf's skin when he passed. Kreacher flinched slightly and hurried to collect the plates.

"Of course, master, anything to keep master happy..." he mumbled, quickly pushing the food in front of the man. Mr Black did not wait like he would when his wife was around for the boys to get food before he tucked in.

"I don't know what you two boys are up to today but if I catch you doing anything you shouldn't be, there will be trouble" Mr Black warned, glancing passively between them.

Regulus swallowed and kept his grey eyes focused on his plate.

"Why do you assume we're doing something wrong? Regulus is a good boy" Sirius blinked, trying not to sound like an arse.

Mr Black stared at his son in the face. "Regulus hasn't been absolutely perfect but he is much better behaved than you are"

Sirius narrowed his eyes and scoffed. "I don't really care how bad I am, I'm just being me"

"You'd better not let your mother hear you talking like that, she won't have it, you know" his eyebrows lifted and his voice took on a warning tone.

"She's not really much of a mother anyway" Sirius rolled his eyes.

The grip on Mr Black's knife tightened drastically and Regulus flinched, actually fearful he was going to stab Sirius with it from across the table. "This food is delicious, Kreacher, what's the flavouring you used today? a spice?" Regulus jumped in very quickly, trying to diffuse the situation, looking helplessly at his brother. Sirius just continued to stare his father down in a challenging sort of manner.

"Kreacher is glad master enjoys his meal, kreacher used black pepper and a small amount of ground chilli to make the food more pleasant for masters' taste" the elf bowed his head but Regulus was certain there was a little smirk directed at Sirius on his face.

The situation seemed to calm slightly but the two men did continue to square each other off like bulls ready to fight or lock horns. When they'd finished, Regulus practically dragged his brother out of the room.

"Regulus..." his father's voice was low, sending chills up his spine. He turned slowly to look back at the man. "Keep him out of trouble today"

Regulus swallowed and nodded. "Of course, father" he said and scurried off up the stairs again.

...

Another few hours of boredom rolled by. Sirius had practically been bouncing off the walls looking for something exciting to do, preferably something that seriously pissed off their father.

"If we want answers we can't start fucking about" Regulus said slowly. "We've got to try and stay quiet and good"

Sirius sighed and went to peek out of the dingy window. "Why don't we just go and get a blood test?"

"From where?" Regulus blinked. "Nowhere is going to be able to do it until new year now and if they did we wouldn't get the results back for weeks"

"I guess that's true" Sirius said slowly. He turned back to look at Regulus and smiled. "We'll get our answers soon enough, Reg, and maybe once we get them we can steal some alcohol and have a huge piss-up whether it's good or bad news"

Regulus chuckled and closed the book he was reading. "A celebration party if good and a blackout drunk-fest if bad" he grinned.

"I like your thinking, Reg" Sirius beamed.

...

That evening, Regulus sat on his bed fidgeting and nervous. They had just had dinner and had been sent upstairs for a while but they had other plans. Plans to go back downstairs and confront their parents after their first evening tea in the living room as Mr and Mrs Black did every night.

"Are you ready?" Sirius swallowed, his eyebrows furrowed as he turned to face his little brother whom was lying on the bed looking nervous.

Regulus was quiet for a few moments before he slowly nodded. "I guess, we may not get anything out of this today anyway, it might all be another waste of time like last night"

"You did only make small comments last night, you didn't really delve for answer or insist upon them" Sirius pointed out watching as Regulus hopped off of the bed and straightened his clothes.

"Fingers crossed they can tell us something more tonight" Regulus sighed.

The two boys stood smiling weakly at one another for a moment, a thrum of energy passing through them and between them. They knew exactly what each other was thinking, they knew exactly what was going on between them. Tonight could be the night that changes everything and they could only hope it was for the best and things would finally begin to settle down for them both. Who knew.

...

The boys headed down the stairs in silence, moving more slowly than they normally would to try and slightly procrastinate some of their time. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, they exchanged glances.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this?" Sirius pursed his lips, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked to Regulus.

"Sure" Regulus nodded firmly. He felt as though his insides were trembling against a hard outer shell. He was nervous, he was frightened, hell, he was terrified to say the least! But he had to do this.

Sirius remained there staring at Regulus for another minute or so before they finally turned towards the living room door.

From inside, they could hear voices. Mrs Black talking quietly, pausing every so often to sip her drink with Kreacher no doubt at her feet with his head bowed in adoration of his Mistress. Mr Black would be mulling things over with a tiny drop of alcohol in his tea as he listened to his wife and dropped in his own bits of conversation every so often like the good and very obedient pure-blood husband he was. This was their nightly ritual regardless of what they were doing.

Regulus stood there, flexing his hands for a few moments before looking almost helplessly to Sirius. Helpless perhaps wasn't the correct word for it, but it was something like that.

"Go on, it's not going to be that bad" Sirius whispered, nudging Regulus to the door again. "You'll be safe, I will protect you" he promised with a warm smile.

Regulus nodded his understanding and smiled. He took a deep breath and knocked the door.

There was a pause and the room seemed to fall silent, no doubt they turned to stare at the door - that's if Kreacher wasn't already aware they had been standing there this whole time. Or Mrs Black. The bitch had eyes in the back of her head.

"Come in" their mother's voice cooed softly, but not in a particularly pleasant way, through the door.

Regulus hesitated a fraction longer and opened the door to peek his head inside. As expected, they were sitting around the fir by the green and silver Christmas tree which looked slightly sad and depressed in its own kind of non-festive way. From the sofa, Mrs Black stared at him almost suspiciously over the rim of her tea cup.

"Is there something you require Kreacher's assistance for?" she asked mildly.

Regulus swallowed and shook his head quickly. "No thank you, mother, I actually wanted to talk to you and... and dad" he said, nervously.

She stared at him for a moment and Mr Black averted his eyes. "Okay. You may sit" she gestured to the opposite sofa.

Sirius and Regulus sat without question like two little obedient pure-blood boys should do. Was Sirius the obedient type? not a chance, but he refused to spoil things for his brother today. They needed answers and being a stubborn arsehole wasn't going to get them any.

"What is it you want to talk to me about?" she asked, stirring her tea slightly.

The youngest son fidgeted and looked down at his clammy hands for a moment before he said. "I want to talk to you about what I said last night... you know... about family and stuff?" his brows furrowed.

The woman was just about to sip her tea. Her eyes widened slightly as she paused, her lips about to touch the rim of the cup, lightly staining it a deep dusky rose pink. She kept her grey eyes locked on her son for a moment before slowly lowering the teacup. "I have no idea what has brought this idea into your head" she spoke, finally.

Regulus fidgeted but didn't say anything.

"He's old enough to know about these things now" Mr Black said. Normally he wouldn't dare defy or stand up to his wife, but this may be the appropriate time for him to speak out of turn.

She looked at him sharply, her eyes searching his face for a moment. Sirius was on edge but leaned back in his chair trying to look completely relaxed.

Regulus' heart picked up in his chest as he looked between them. "I know there's something you're not telling me and I'm old enough now to know about these things"

The woman seemed to hesitate for only a moment before sipping her tea again in a bored sort of way.

When the silence continued, Regulus grew irritated. "I know there's something going on! I'm not stupid! I can sense it and feel it if nothing else!"

"Calm down, Regulus" his father said softly, his dark brows knitted together.

"Why should I?" the boy barked. "Why should I do anything you tell me when you can't even do one simple thing for me!"

Mrs Black didn't look surprised but her husband did. Little surprised Mrs Black. Sirius on the other hand was staring at his brother in absolute shock. Regulus was sitting there rigid in his chair, his hands jammed between his legs and his face pale yet somehow burning with anger and frustration. This was getting to him a lot more than anyone had realised by now.

She slowly lowered her tea again onto the end table and stared into Regulus' face. "There is nothing you need to know" she said simply.

Regulus' shoulder slumped but he wasn't about to admit defeat just yet. He grabbed the shopper bag he'd brought with him and yanked the box out. The reaction was even better than they'd hoped for.

Mr Black jumped so hard he threw his tea all over Kreacher whom helped and began hopping around, Mrs Black tensed up, her face twisting with something they couldn't quite identify. "Where did you get that?!" she hissed angrily.

Regulus swallowed and glanced briefly to Sirius. "We stole it?" he tried, giving a tiny shrug.

Mrs Black's lips twisted further and she gripped the edge of the sofa so tightly her knuckles turned white. Regulus was sure she'd break her new manicure...

"You stole things from our bedroom?!" Mr Black snarled. "You went in there and you robbed us?!"

"It's not stealing if they're your own things" Sirius rolled his eyes.

Mr Black's attention went straight to the oldest boy. "I should have known, you're the mastermind behind all of this! it's always you!"

"Calm down, dad, I didn't plan anything" Sirius rolled his eyes. "Even if I did what does it matter now?"

The man looked as though he would hex or punch Sirius into next year, he sat with his chest heaving as he glared a very calm Sirius down. It didn't work.

Much to everyone's surprise, Mrs Black held up her hand to silence her husband, her eyes still boring into Regulus' but it didn't look as though he was going to back down anytime soon. "Have you opened it?" she asked, smoothly.

"Yes" Regulus swallowed trying to keep his voice even.

She nodded once in understanding. "What did you find?"

"Stuff I'd drawn as a child, papers, medical stuff, writing... and my birth certificate..." he said slowly.

She sighed heavily in something close to defeat which surprised everyone in the room. Mrs Black didn't back down to anyone.

"Mum? why aren't there any real signatures on my birth certificate?" Regulus asked softly.

Mrs Black was silent for another few moments then suddenly her eyebrows turned down in anger. "Don't you dare speak to me like that, little boy!"

Regulus blinked, shocked. "Like what? I didn't do anything wrong!"

"In that desperate manner, it's disgusting and embarrassing!" she snapped.

"For Merlin's sake, mother, just tell him what he wants to know! is that so hard?" Sirius exasperated.

"Don't you speak to your mother that way!" Mr Black barked.

"Stop trying to be 'helpful', dad" Sirius rolled his eyes again and refused to look at the man which only infuriated him further.

Mrs Black's hands were shaking. "I don't think we should be having this conversation..." she said and got up to leave.

"MUM, NO!" Regulus cried, jumping to his feet and yanking the birth certificate out of its box. The box tumbled from his lap scattering papers and such all over the floor. "Look at this!" he whined. "Just look! someone signed it with Black and nothing else!"

"So? you're a Black" she shrugged, glaring down at him.

"Am I really?" Regulus looked to her suspiciously. "Because I don't even know who my mother is, is it you? is it someone else?" he quirked an eyebrow.

The woman remained silent and pursed her lips into a tight line.

"Why won't you just tell me? I don't care, it's not like I can go running off into the sunset with them, is it?" Regulus groaned.

Walburga was silent for a few moments. "When you were a born, you were born... not in the right circumstances"

Regulus frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Out of marriage" she explained.

Regulus's lips parted. So he couldn't have been theirs.

"Your mother wanted you to have the Black name of your father rather than her name, she thought it would give you better chances in life so he signed it there and that was it. They didn't want to be known as the couple that had an illegitimate.

"How is that illegitimate? he's standing right in front of you now, he's not exactly a fake!" Sirius tutted angrily.

"Pure-blood's do not have children out of wedlock, it just isn't done" she said smoothly. "And that's the end of the story" she turned to walk away again.

"It's not the end of the story at all!" Regulus shouted at her, balling his hands into fists. "Who the hell are my real parents?!"

"Your mother was a pure-blood woman, your father was a pure-blood Black" she said simply.

"First names?!" Regulus cried.

"Jessica" said Mrs Black. "That was your mother's name"

Regulus' face fell. "Was?" he asked softly.

"She died last year, Regulus" she spoke softly.

Regulus' legs were shaking and his shoulders slumped. Sirius jumped to his feet to steady him before he sank to the floor. "My mum died?" he whispered. At first he wasn't sure she'd heard him, but then she spoke.

"Yes, she did" Mrs Black breathed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he sobbed. "Why would you keep something like that from me?! I could have been there or seen her or something!" tears began streaming down his face.

"Calm down, Regulus" said Mr Black.

"Why the hell should I calm down?!" he screamed. "You finally tell me that I'm not yours, that I was adopted, and you throw it on me that my mother died last year and you won't even tell me who my dad is!"

"Your dad is a Black, he is a second cousin of your father on his aunt's side and he doesn't want anything to do with you" she said simply.

Regulus looked horrified. "Doesn't want anything to do with me?! how do you even know that?!"

"We have tried talking to him about you several times and he just isn't interested" said Mr Black whom was still sitting perched on the edge of the sofa.

Regulus looked nauseated.

"That's why we didn't tell you. Your mother is dead and your father doesn't want you" the woman spat nastily before she turned on her heels and left the room. And that was that.

Regulus broke down in sobs on the floor, Sirius was trying to comfort him and Mr Black looked away awkwardly as his wife ascended the stairs.

Sirius was stunned, he had no idea what to say or think or even do. Regulus wasn't his biological brother, more like his... third cousin? He held the boy as he sobbed and cried.

...

Eventually Mr Black got up and left turning the light out on them. Eventually, Regulus also fell silent and remained on the floor until he began to shiver. The fire was out, there was no light and the temperature was dropping.

"Shall we go upstairs?" Sirius' voice was barely above a whisper. He had held Regulus there for over an hour by now and was frightened of moving him.

Slowly, very slowly, Regulus looked into his non-brother's face, his grey eyes wide and sad. He could see the curve of Sirius' jaw in the dim light, the shine of his eyes and feel the warmth of his skin. He nodded feeling completely exhausted and unable to speak a single word. He was thankful for Sirius' lack of questions and coddling as they walked up the stairs. Regulus would have said he looked like he's shat his brains out half the day if he caught sight of himself walking clutching onto Sirius and shuffling along like a little old man at any other time, but now he couldn't even bring himself to look his own reflection in the eye in the glint of the expensive mirror on the way up the stairs.

They washed up and changed in silence and when they climbed into bed, Regulus cuddled into Sirius and swallowed.

"I know you'd hate it if I asked if you're okay so I'll pretend I didn't just ask" Sirius' lips twitched into a hesitant smile.

Regulus sighed softly and managed a tiny, very weak smile. "I love you" he whispered.

"I love you too" Sirius breathed back. "Just wanna go to sleep?"

"Please" Regulus exhaled softly.

Sirius was wary of sleeping, his own mind was keeping him awake anyway. Regulus was not his biological brother, he wasn't truly part of their family and their spiteful bitch of a mother was making sure that Regulus suffered for finding out. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about this, it wasn't just Regulus the secret had been kept from. It was him, their oldest son and heir. He'd had no idea, he didn't even suspect anything until James had insisted they find out, now they have he had to wonder if old Prongs would be happy or not. Maybe he'd been joking all along.

What would Remus say?

He couldn't even begin to think about how they would go public, when they would go public or if they would ever go public about their relationship. What the hell would people think? how could they explain this one away?

On one hand he was upset, stunned, hurt, he felt betrayed by the people he called their parents, he was angry, lost and very put-out. At the same time he also felt relieved, happy, enlightened and much better than he'd done in a long time. This in a way uncomplicated things but complicated them much further in other ways. What would they do now? well, they'd have to wait until sunrise to find that out.

Sirius swallowed and looked to the boy he'd called brother for the last sixteen years and smiled. Things were much, much different now and he couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would bring...

...


	14. Mr M Black

Regulus woke the next morning feeling rough and tired like he hadn't slept properly. Almost as though he had a hangover but without the copious amounts of alcohol. He groaned and turned over refusing to sit up.

"Breakfast in bed" Sirius smiled holding a try with jam on toast, some crispy bacon and orange juice. His brother peeked up at him and found himself smiling gently.

"That's so kind" he sat up with a groggy yawn as his brother rested the tray down on his lap.

"Well I thought you deserved it" Sirius smiled back. He sank down beside his brother watching him eating slowly. "I was thinking that maybe today we could do some more investigation to help settle things down a little after last night"

"Not much in the Christmas spirit, is it?" Regulus chuckled softly.

"This is your life, we have to do something" said Sirius.

Once Regulus was finished eating he got up, washed and dressed and went to hide in Sirius' bedroom again. "I don't want to have to face mum and dad today"

"They're going out in an hour or two anyway so we can do some exploring and investigation then" Sirius tried.

Regulus sighed heavily and hung his head. "I'm sure if they had anything potentially incriminating lying around it would definitely have been moved today"

"You never know until you look there's only so many places you can hide things, even in a house like this one" Sirius smiled enthusiastically. Regulus couldn't help but smile back.

...

They waited for just over an hour. One long, miserable hour. Sirius coaxed Regulus, whom was still feeling humiliated and angry, out of the bedroom and down the stairs. It wasn't much to their surprise that their parents' bedroom door was locked again so instead of spending all their time picking it and trying to break in, they slipped down another floor into their father's study.

"Hopefully if there's anything it will be jammed in here somewhere" Sirius commented. He jimmied the top drawer of the desk open and began rummaging. A few family photos, letters from his work, letters from school about Sirius, receipts for birthday gifts for his wife...

He rummaged around the papers on the top and in the other drawer, he peeked under the desk whilst Regulus scoured the room.

"I found an address book" Regulus said suddenly.

Sirius jumped and almost whacked his head off the top of the solid wooden table. "What-?!"

Regulus moved over and dropped into his father's chair flipping it open. He searched for B and began to file off names of other family members - close and distant- as well as other random people's names from his own or social life.

"Find anything?"

Most of the names he recognised, there was nothing that stood out unless one of them was his biological father - which he highly doubted. Surely he wouldn't just leave this lying around if it were, he couldn't be the son of his cousin's dad, that wouldn't make any sense and surely something would have shown by now. He couldn't be related to some of his friends. Broadman was a very tall man with bright red hair, brown eyes and a lot of freckles whereas Regulus was small with black hair, grey eyes and no freckles at all. Besides, he was a Black. He turned over the page and was surprised to see it had been torn out leaving nothing but a scrap stuck in the binding. "Nothing so far but someone ripped a page out" he turned the book over to Sirius.

Sirius took his time examining it closely. "Maybe they had to get rid of it, there's no way to tell when this was torn out"

"Could have been yesterday" said Regulus.

"Maybe, but it could have been a long time ago, this book has plenty of writing in it and some crossings out..."

Regulus sighed and tilted his head back for a moment to gaze at the candlelit chandelier hanging from the ceiling from a powerful black chain to go with the rest of the decoration in the house, this one was much smaller than the bigger ones in the main rooms, though. "So we're basically looking for a page..."

"Looks that way" said Sirius. "Come on, no point lounging around in here, we may as well get on with it"

They searched the room and were careful to put things back the way they found them. It was fruitless so they moved onto the library searching the drawers, the tables and even in some of the books that looked recently disturbed hoping to turn something up, but again it was utterly pointless. This house was like a maze with a million nooks and crannies where a scrap of paper could be hidden if it hadn't already been thrown away just to stop Regulus from having it.

Normally when their parents went out they would be gone for almost the whole day but you never could predict these things. Maybe they were hoping to catch them in the act or something. Maybe they were giving them the opportunity to go and look for the paper so they weren't the ones to directly give it to them - ha! fat chance!

They moved from room to room, their hopes slowly diminishing as they continued their search. Their chances of actually uncovering something were growing slimmer by the second. Each floor was layered with rooms apart from the top one which had only their two bedrooms, Sirius' being the larger. There was no point in even looking up there.

The other rooms were either spare bedrooms, sitting rooms or filled with tables and junk. Some of the things they knew better than to touch or disturb and many of the cupboards it wasn't a good idea to open, but why would anything be hidden in them in the first place? that would just be crazy.

It took them almost four hours to search as much as they could. Kreacher offered them no help and hid away in his kitchen cupboard the whole time muttering to himself, hoarding things or sleeping. In Sirius' humble opinion, as long as he stayed out of the way it didn't matter what else went on.

Hours seemed to fly by in a matter of minutes or even seconds. They were growing tired, groaning, searching, continuously asking one another if they'd found anything yet - but to no avail. Nothing had turned up at all, not a shred of evidence, not a copy of anything and nothing that was too our of the ordinary for this house. That was saying something.

By the end of their search they headed into the living room with a bottle of butter beer each and sank down onto the sofas. The fire was crackling merrily and the sorry-looking Christmas tree sparkled. Regulus sighed heavily again. He could do with something stronger than butter beer, it was only cream soda and fucking butterscotch syrup, nothing special or alcoholic about it. He gazed around the room as he reached to put his bottle on the table when he noticed something sitting on the surface. Regulus frowned and picked it up, it was an envelope addressed to him, it looked fresh but only had his name on it.

"What's that?" Sirius frowned.

Regulus sat back and turned it over. "I have no idea" he said quietly and glanced worriedly to his brother.

"Open it" Sirius urged.

The Slytherin tore open the back, inside was one small wafer of paper - the tearing from the address book. On the front side it had what they were looking for.

_Regulus; _

_Don't cry to us when we warned you he wasn't interested but we've come to a decision as your guardians to allow you to know whom your biological father is. _

_ Mr M Black _

_1 Dartmoore Way_

_Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England_

Regulus felt sick to his stomach, he hadn't noticed his hands were shaking until Sirius grabbed his arm to try and steady him. "Easy, Reg, it's okay..." he cooed softly.

Regulus gasped out a breath as the tears fell down his cheeks. "I have a dad..." he choked out. He exhaled slowly when he felt his boyfriend's arms circling around him bringing him peace.

"Do you want to go and see him?" Sirius asked softly.

"Yes!"

"When?"

"Tomorrow?" Regulus sniffed hard and looked hopefully to his boyfriend.

Sirius hesitated a moment. "Christmas eve? are you sure, Reg?"

"Positive, I couldn't be more sure of anything" he stared firmly into his brother's eyes without breaking the gaze.

Sirius folded and sighed. "Okay, we can go together" he smiled warmly.

Now Regulus looked really excited. "Are you sure you want to come with me?" he breathed.

Sirius barked a laugh. "Just how would you plan on getting there without me disapparating us? besides, I'd love to be with you for this, even just as moral support if nothing else" he spoke softly.

"Thank you so much" Regulus beamed and threw his arms tightly around the Gryffindor. "I love you..."

"I love you too, Reg"

...

Sirius and Regulus were sitting in the dark by the time their parents came home. The fire was still crackling but the lamps were not lit and it was obvious they had been drinking.

Mrs Black hung in the doorway like a looming overgrown bat, her face stern. "You got your letter then" she said simply.

Regulus looked up at her with a sad, worried expression on his face.

Her eyes narrowed as she sniffed the air. "I hope you haven't been stealing the good wine" her voice was curt as she swept away from the door and into the kitchen after her husband.

"I would have hoped she would be warmer than that" Regulus sniffed.

"The alcohol is making you more emotional" Sirius commented, knocking back another whiskey and wincing at the sharp burning taste. "You always get either really silly or really sad when you're drunk"

"I'm not drunk I'm just relaxed" Regulus pointed out, holding up a drooping finger.

Sirius gave a chuckle and watched his brother finished the rest of the wine off. "Why don't we go upstairs and get you into bed?"

"Taking advantage of the fact I've been drinking?" Regulus smirked.

"Might be" Sirius grinned. "Nah, just think you should go to bed before you drink too much and regret it tomorrow" he chuckled in amusement. With some effort he managed to drag Regulus upstairs, get him cleaned up. He was more drunk than Sirius had thought seeing as he was surprisingly articulate when drunk, however, when he started to walk he was wobbling around like a newborn colt. He managed to get his brother into bed and wrapped him up in his bed covers. Despite the fact Regulus was Slytherin, he quite liked the burgundy bed covers.

Sirius lay beside his non-brother until he fell asleep, at which point he placed a sick bucket by the side of the bed with a smirk. Three bottles of wine and two goblets of whiskey probably weren't the best idea for Regulus tonight but what could he do? Regulus was within his own right to drink them, it wasn't like he was out falling about the street and being picked up by strange men and/or forced to take drugs. With a small sigh on his lips, Sirius curled up and allowed his own alcoholic consumption to send him into a gentle sleep.

...

It was the next morning at breakfast when Mr Lupin dropped a bomb. "Look at this" he said, gesturing to the paper with a rough slap of the back of his palm.

Remus looked up in confusion as his dad showed him the headline.

"Despicable the behaviour of some of these pure-blood's"

"What's the matter, dear?" Mrs Lupin asked delicately.

"First cousins married with children, their children coupled with other first cousins... it's disgusting. Look, one of them is a twenty-one-year-old boy and he's with his great aunt of thirty-something" Mr Lupin pursed his lips. "Shocking"

Remus almost choked on his herbal tea. Sirius and Regulus were even worse.

"Isn't there anything they can do about that?" Mrs Lupin asked with a frown. "I know in... my world... they would be arrested, possibly"

Mr Lupin sighed. "Even if there was something they could do they absolutely would not touch pure-blood's and it's only a scandal because this isn't the main paper. It's one of those freelance things"

"If you don't like it then why do you read it?" Remus asked quietly.

"_The_ _Daily Prophet _can be too pretentious sometimes. I like the freelance work, it puts things into a more realistic light than some of those money hungry journalists that work for the Ministry" Mr Lupin chuckled. "But enough of that, has anything exciting been going on at school?" he smiled warmly to his son.

Remus smirked to himself and shook his head. "Nothing too out of the ordinary"

"How are your friends?" Mrs Lupin asked very eagerly. She'd always been eager about the Marauders ever since Remus had first told his parents he actually had some friends at school. It was the first time in his life he'd ever had any.

"They're doing fine. I made a new one, Sirius' younger brother" he smiled gently. "His name is-"

"Regulus Black" Mr Lupin nodded slowly. "Yes, I know their father" he sighed softly.

"I'm guessing their father is as unpleasant as Sirius makes him out to be" Remus quirked an eyebrow.

"He is very rude, arrogant, snobbish, prejudice and extremely wealthy" Mr Lupin smiled back. "He tries to buy his way out of everything, he has an enormous pay rise and he walks all over anyone. He barely even speaks to me because I'm a half-blood"

"Then I dread to think what he'd do to me" Remus smiled shyly.

"I wouldn't let him do anything to you" Mr Lupin smiled and reached over to ruffle Remus' soft hair. "You're a much better person than he'll ever be anyway"

Remus was smiling, his cheeks glowing slightly.

"Besides, if he did I would have to let the wife sort him out" the older man grinned.

"I learned martial arts, you know" Hope smiled.

Remus laughed.

...

When Regulus woke the next morning he groaned loudly and rolled over away from the direction of the light.

"Someone's got a hangover" Sirius chuckled softly.

Regulus peeked out at his non-brother and sighed. "I feel like I've been hit by a train"

"You're not used to drinking that much" Sirius pointed out as he propped himself up on his left elbow to grin at his brother more.

"You're right" Regulus managed a chuckle. "How come you're not hungover?"

"Because I didn't drink nearly as much as you. One glass of wine and a goblet of whiskey was all I had" Sirius smirked back.

"I didn't drink much" Regulus furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't think... I don't really remember if I'm honest"

Sirius barked a playful laugh, the noise earning a groan of despair from his brother. "You had three bottles of wine and two goblets of fire whiskey on a practically empty stomach. You were so drunk you couldn't walk up the stairs, it took twenty minutes to get you to the bathroom"

Regulus snorted playfully then winced again. "Ouch..."

"I'm gonna get you something for your headache" Sirius threw back the covers and hopped out of bed like it was no big deal. Regulus felt jealous.

"Would you get me something for the nausea? I feel like I'm going to throw up..."

"Of course" Sirius breathed and leaned over to brush their lips together. "Oh, if you're going to throw up, please get it in the bucket" he nodded over to the one sitting down Regulus' side of the bed.

Regulus chuckled. "I'll try"

By the time Sirius got back, Regulus had thrown up and passed out dangling off the side of the bed. He sighed and rested the potion down on the beside table, gently rolled Regulus onto his side and pulled the covers back up over him. The boy didn't really stir and Sirius thought it best to let him sleep for a while.

And sleep he did.

SIX hours later, Regulus woke feeling much less groggy, much less tired and much more confused. "What time is it?" he groaned rubbing his tired eyes. From what he could tell it looked to be pretty much dark outside.

"Nearly five" Sirius chuckled.

"Have I seriously been asleep all day?!" Regulus looked to him with wide, confused eyes.

"Yup"

Regulus sighed and sank back.

"There's a drink for you" Sirius smiled again, nodding to the bedside table. Sure enough, a glass of juice was sitting waiting. Regulus gulped it gratefully.

"I don't feel nearly as shit as I did this morning" the younger boy chuckled, snuggling into Sirius' chest.

"I should hope not" Sirius smirked. "Not up for another round of drinking tonight?"

Regulus cringed horribly. "Can't stomach it, maybe another night though"

Sirius barked a laugh. "You want to do it again?"

"Yeah but don't let me drink so much next time" Regulus grinned. "When I'm really, really drunk I don't feel it until I get up and can't walk"

"I'll look after you" Sirius promised with a soft kiss. "Wanna get up and... do something?"

"Like what?" Regulus blinked.

"Get something to eat? take a nice warm, soapy bath together..." he purred softly not even caring if Kreacher was hovering outside the door. Turns out he wasn't.

"Mm, maybe something light and then a nice bath" Regulus groaned.

...

Somehow they managed to completely avoid their mum and dad when they went down for some food. Sirius made them a light meal of chicken and chips before they headed back upstairs for a hot bath. As they undressed, Regulus slipped his foot into the water with a moan of pleasure. "So nice..."

"Yes it is" Sirius smirked, leaning back to get a better look at Regulus' figure as he slid into the water.

Regulus smirked. "Wanna have a little play?"

"Do I?!" Sirius barked another laugh and hopped into the water with his boyfriend. His lips trailed up Regulus' neck, nipping lightly at it in the way he knew drove Regulus wild. His hands moved up those slender sides and down to feel his thighs. "You're so sexy"

Regulus chuckled and bit his bottom lip, his arms draping around Sirius' neck. Oh yes, he could most definitely get used to this.

...

The time leading up to Christmas eve was nerve wracking and extremely boring. They had read all their spare books, played too many games of chess, made some full meals, talked for hours and had plenty of sex, but Regulus couldn't let go of the nagging feeling in his stomach about going to see his father.

Christmas eve was an exciting time for most people. Regulus always loved it, but that morning he was feeling nearly sick with nerves. This evening he would be going to Newcastle to see his father, to find his father and possibly even actually find something out about his mother. Surely Mrs Black was lying, surely she wouldn't be dead. She couldn't be dead.

"I don't need to ask what's on your mind, do I?" Sirius asked quietly watching his brother fiddling with a bauble on the tree.

Regulus sighed softly. "I'm just really scared to meet him. What if mum is right and he does reject me?"

"He's your dad, Reg, I wouldn't take anything that cold old hag says to heart" Sirius replied.

Regulus shot him a worried look. "She's our mother, Sirius... she loves us"

"She loves you, she's barely said a word to me or even looked at me this Christmas" Sirius chuckled softly. "Never mind that, what time do you want to go?"

"Seven?" Regulus raised an eyebrow. "Not too early and not too late"

"Perfect" Sirius smiled right back. He extended his arms and Regulus walked into them for a soft cuddle. "I'm sure it'll be okay but please prepare yourself just in case it's not. I don't wanna seem like a complete downer when you're so excited to meet your dad but you need to make sure you're prepared that if he isn't happy about meeting you you won't be too hurt"

"I guess so" Regulus sighed. "I can't really expect him not to be shocked and maybe even wary of me..."

"That's right and hopefully he can at least clear this whole thing about your mum up" Sirius smiled warmly.

Regulus found himself smiling. Actually smiling a little. "I really hope my biological mother isn't dead. I hope mum was playing some sick joke"

"For the first time, so do I" said Sirius.

...

On a normal Christmas eve, Regulus would be checking the clock every few minutes, bubbling with excitement, reading festive stories he'd been reading since he was a small child but today he wasn't doing any of that. His mind was whirring with thoughts, constantly running like water gushing from a tap with no way to turn it off. What if he was rejected? what if this was some sort of sick joke? What if he completely humiliated himself here?

Regulus was so nervous as the time ticked by. He hadn't even spoken to his parents today, he couldn't face them and he was sure they were just as awkward with him. Maybe they really didn't love him, I mean, who would love an adopted child in the same way they love a biological one?

He could barely eat he was so afraid and as the time approached, he washed up, changed and tried to make himself look as presentable as possible.

When seven drew near, Sirius swallowed nervously dressed in his smart clothes. "Are you ready to go?"

Regulus looked up from where he was combing his fingers through his long hair in the mirror. He nodded slowly, a worried expression on his face.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" Sirius asked, searching his non-brother's face.

"Yes" Regulus breathed.

"Then let's go"

They left the house, slipped into the pocket park and disapparated hand in hand.

...

Newcastle was even colder than London, the air was so cold it stung just to be out in it. Sirius had researched where the address was before they left and from what Regulus could guess was they were standing in the darkness at the end of the street. Like with Grimmauld place, there were Christmas lights strung about, houses glowing with a warm golden light, snow lay heavily on the ground in a pristine blanket of white. It would have been beautiful, the houses were very grand.

They walked silently down the street still holding hands, no cars passed, nobody looked out of their windows into the lonely street outside. Sometimes they could hear laughter coming from the front rooms of the house as the passed but otherwise it was silent.

"The one on the end" Sirius said quietly, nodding to the last house on the street. It was a big detached victorian house with steep stone steps leading to a large oak front door. Dark. There was a light glowing through the heavy drapes on the inside through the thickly pained window covered in frost, icicles hung from the overhand.

Regulus swallowed, his hands were shaking.

They stepped up quietly, holding one another hoping not to catch the ice wrong as they approached the front door. They stopped. Regulus exhaled his breath into the cold night air.

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked quietly as though afraid someone would hear him and throw the door open in an accusing, suspicious rage.

"Just about" Regulus swallowed, willing himself not to be sick. "Can you knock the door?"

Sirius reached out and knocked loudly on the door trying not to seem as though he was pounding it with his fist.

They waited, Regulus was shaking so hard he thought he was vibrating, he felt sick and dizzy and had to close his eyes for a moment to try to compose himself.

Footsteps approached the door and it opened, the warmth spilling over their cold-bitten faces. Regulus' eyes flew open as he came face to face with a grown man with pale skin, dark hair and light eyes. "Yes?"

Regulus slowly dropped his hood and looked at the man that must have been his father. His real father. Now it made sense.

The man's eyes widened as he stared at Regulus, his lips parting. "You're not-"

"Your son" Regulus squeaked out.

The man looked at him in horror and made to shut the door but Regulus put his hands on it. "Wait-"

"Leave"

Regulus looked to him in horror, sucking in a breath. "Please talk to me!"

The man looked very wary and alarmed. "How did you get my address?!"

"M-my mum- Mrs Black..."

Mr Black sighed heavily and hung his head for a moment. "I did ask her not to give you my address or any sort of contact details" he said more to himself than to Regulus. "Why are you even here?" his Geordie accent strong.

"I want to meet my dad" Regulus felt the tears welling in his eyes. "Don't you want to meet me?"

"No. I turned you over years ago" he made to shut the door again but this time Sirius stepped in and rammed it back open.

"How can you be so cold to him?! he wants to meet you and speak to you, you're his father!" the taller boy barked angrily.

Mr Black was much shorter than Sirius, probably only around five-five, he was thin, slighter built than Sirius, but he still had some resemblance. He searched the boy's face for a moment. "Ah, you're Walburga's biological boy, aren't you?"

"Unfortunately" Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"Please-" Regulus managed out, tears welling further in his eyes and now very obvious when you looked at him.

"I told your adoptive mother that I don't want ANYTHING to do with you, no photos, no letters, no contact at all. It was a closed adoption" he shook his head slowly.

"But I'm old enough to come looking for you now so it's completely different!" Regulus cried. "I just want to get to know you a little! I need to know more about my life!"

"You're really not satisfied with living in London with people that love you, spoil you and actually want you?"

"I am but it's not the same as knowing who had you" Regulus let out a small choked sob.

Mr Black sighed heavily. "I don't want my neighbours looking at some little kid crying on my front doorstep on Christmas Eve so you can come in for five minutes" he glanced up and down the street as though paranoid his neighbours really were watching him and speculating. Typical pure-blood behaviour. He stepped aside and Sirius shoved Regulus in with the small of his back, the warmth washing over them both as the door closed.

The hallway was lovely, a bright wooden floor with lovely cream walls that had a light geometric pattern, lovely light wood furnishings with a staircase leading up the the other floors. It was very spacious and yet very cosy.

He gestured for Regulus and Sirius to go into the sitting room and make themselves comfortable. Another spacious room with a light floral sofa, a beautiful wide bookcase covering one side of the wall, a thick plush rug and armchairs to match.

They sank down slowly, Regulus trying to wipe the tears from his face. He watched his father sink down into the closest armchair with a heavy sigh.

"Please just... tell me more" Regulus sniffled. He felt Sirius' arm snaking around him to comfort him. It helped.

"Right. My name is Magnus Black, I'm a relative of your adoptive dad so I guess in some way you're still related, although not anymore closely than other pure-blood's, more like second cousins or something" he explained.

Regulus was listening attentively but he was also drinking in his father's appearance. He had to be in his forties, he still looked kind of young, he was slim, had obviously taken good care of himself and looked surprisingly like Regulus apart from some of his features.

"You were born out of wedlock on February 12th 1961 in Newcastle, your mother had you out of marriage, we weren't going to stay together and we didn't really want to raise a baby so we made the decision to give you away"

"You really didn't want to keep me?" Regulus asked in disbelief.

The man looked into his eyes and shook his head slowly. "No"

Regulus emitted a choked sob.

"Don't go crying about it because there's nothing you can do now. You had a good life as far as I'm aware" the man said casually.

"Mum said you never asked about me and wouldn't hear anything about me!" Regulus sobbed. "So how would you know what my life has been like?"

The man studied him for a moment. "I don't understand why you wanted to come here and meet me. I really don't. I'm sure you were warned this was the case"

"I didn't think it was actually true..." Regulus whispered, tears trickling down his small face.

"Things aren't always as black and white as they seem, Regulus" he spoke slowly. "There is a lot more to this story than you know right now"

"That's why I'm here! I want to know more!" Regulus continued to cry.

Magnus stared at him for a moment, his face softening. He got up and went to the wine rack under the dining table. "You're going to need a drink before we get started" he popped the top on a new whiskey, poured out three goblets and passed them around, keeping one for himself.

Regulus sipped it nervously, the alcohol burning his throat.

A silence passed between them.

"I think I need to tell you the whole story..." Magnus said slowly, swirling the whiskey in the goblet. "From the very beginning before you were born..."

...


End file.
